In the passing away of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday night after a titanic battle with life for 75 days after she was admitted to Apollo hospital in Chennai, the people of the State have lost a rare phenomenon who rode the stage like a colossus and commanded the love of the teeming millions. Jayalalithaa was indeed a mass leader in the true sense who was revered as Amma or mother and was instrumental in running welfare programmes with rare commitment and perseverance which benefited lakhs of impoverished people. Her charisma and charm and her work for the poor won her numerous fans and admirers and catapulted her to cult status. The emotionally-charged people of Tamil Nadu will mourn her absence for a long time to come.
As it invariably happens with icons, Jayalalithaa has left behind a deep void. The one thing her successor O. Panneerselvam is known for is his unflinching and unswerving loyalty to Amma. He held the charge of chief minister twice earlier, both times filling in for Jayalalithaa first when she was unseated by a court verdict in the Tansi land deal case in 2003 and then when she was put behind bars in Bengaluru two years ago in a case relating to amassing disproportionate wealth. From both cases she emerged triumphant but in the second case she even had to serve a jail term. Panneerselvam, a man of great simplicity and character made no attempt to carve out an independent base for himself and was perfectly at ease in the role of a stopgap chief minister, filling in for the supreme leader. He was a picture of servility and humility in her presence.
For Panneerselvam, the new stint would be an ordeal of fire. With the hand of Jayalalithaa no longer a guide to him he will need to show initiative and dynamism in abundant measure and it would be unusual if he does not face dissidence within the AIADMK from more ambitious party leaders. To avert a split in the party would be his biggest challenge. To keep the legacy of Amma going he would need to use all his skills to keep the torch burning through tact and a mixture of firmness and appeasement. With Amma’s close aide Sasikala expected to hold the reins of the party, Panneerselvam would need to forge a closer working relationship with her while keeping her at arm’s length. In dealing with the Narendra Modi government at the Centre she will be called upon to spell out the terms on which she will engage with it to serve the best interests of Tamil Nadu. To keep his flock together in the face of inducements to his men from the DMK he will need to use all his tact and persuasiveness.
At the height of Jayalalithaa’s power, Tamil Nadu was a favoured destination for foreign investment. Panneerselvam would need to nurture investment and spur industrialisation. Since he has a seemingly limited horizon and vision, he would need to engage and repose faith in the best of advisers. Having been schooled in politics under a seasoned master like Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam would have inculcated some positive attributes of Amma which would come in handy for him. It was Jayalalithaa’s characteristic that she was uncompromising when it came to the interests of the State. Panneerselvam lacks her stature but he would need to develop and nurture his own strengths. Jayalalithaa’s skills of articulation were extraordinary and since her successor can hardly be expected to match up to them, he would need to make up for them through sincerity and earnestness.
Jayalalithaa had no parallels in her welfare programmes for the poor. Unlike in other places where there are leakages in such programmes and therefore squandering of public money, Jayalalithaa kept a close watch on the implementation of her welfare schemes and won the eternal gratitude of those who benefited from them. If there was one leader who could not be accused of nepotism, it was she. She kept her relatives away and was wary of those who tried to take advantage of her. She had a running battle with the DMK of M. Karunanidhi and exchanged barbs with him from time to time. Eclipsed completely by her in recent years, the DMK would now strive to win back favour with the people through hook or crook.
At the Centre, both the ruling BJP and the opposition will strain every nerve to win favour with the AIADMK. Panneerselvam will be reminded by the BJP that she and Prime Minister Modi enjoyed great rapport and that she had a healthy respect for him. Opposition parties, on the other hand, will sense an opportunity in bringing the party’s MPs to their camp. How well her successor balances the interests of the State will determine how well he manages her legacy.
