Such was her versatility. Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader) Jayaram Jayalalitha could floor someone with her brains as much as by her beauty.
She could be an elitist to some, an actor to others, a good friend and a colleague to a few, role model and brave leader to some and a benevolent Amma to the many ordinary people. The elevation to Amma (mother) status could be due to various reasons — for being a role model by becoming the first female to break the male bastion of the Tamil Nadu politics, or for her forthright approach in dealing with people, or for leaving her party men or her rivals in awe with her signature approach.
She could connect with the people by directly interacting with supporters whenever she addressed a rally, throwing a question at them and getting a vociferous response.
She has also announced numerous welfare schemes for women and children, endearing her to them.
She became so popular that Jayalalitha is even spoken in the same breath as M.G. Ramachandran, the Indian actor and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for ten years between 1977 and 1987.
What endeared her to the masses is the straightforward approach to the people who are financially backward. Freebies are the in-thing in Tamil Nadu electioneering but, apart from the mixers, grinders, laptops and numerous welfare schemes, and the number of investments to the state, Jayalalitha’s Amma canteens proved a big hit among the people.
It is not that Jayalalitha is without fault — the wedding of her foster son Sudhagaran, or the ties she had with Sasikala, or the hindrances one had to encounter during the long waits on the route she travelled or the corruption cases levelled against her are a few — but she tried to make amends over the last few years and tried to come clean.
Taking a cue from the midday meals scheme introduced by her mentor M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), she took the initiative a step further to provide quality food at cheap costs — reaching the people’s hearts through their stomachs.
Cutting across party lines, the poor and the needy benefited by Amma canteens. The 2015 Chennai floods almost threatened to sweep her off the power, but the smart handling of the situation brought her back to power.
Jayalalitha might have been denied to part of the last journey of her mentor MGR close to three decades ago, but the beloved Amma has rightfully chartered her own course to get a similar send-off during her final journey from the people of Tamil Nadu to lay next to her mentor MGR.
But once again it has left a huge vacuum in the state political scene.