Jayalalithaa unseated at her peak

Special Court in Bangalore deals a big blow to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, but analysts refuse to write her off

Updated - November 28, 2021 09:54 pm IST - CHENNAI:

(Top) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister arrives at the Special Court in Bangalore on Saturday; (left) AIADMK cadres burn the effigy of DMK president M. Karunanidhi after the verdict in Chennai; police stop AIADMK activists during a protest in Madurai. Photo: K. Murali Kumar, K.V. Srinivasan and James.

(Top) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister arrives at the Special Court in Bangalore on Saturday; (left) AIADMK cadres burn the effigy of DMK president M. Karunanidhi after the verdict in Chennai; police stop AIADMK activists during a protest in Madurai. Photo: K. Murali Kumar, K.V. Srinivasan and James.

Every time her political rivals have written her off, Tamil Nadu's three time Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has made a comeback.

And so while AIADMK’s political rivals believe that Saturday’s verdict against Ms Jayalalithaa would be a permanent setback and weaken her hold over the party, political analysts refuse to endorse this assessment.

Veteran journalist and political analyst Cho Ramaswamy said though the judgment was a blow to her now, there was a lot of sympathy for Ms Jayalalithaa among the people. “The considered opinion of the legal experts is that legal avenues are available to her and she may come out unscathed in the future,” said Mr Ramaswamy, a long-time friend.

Mr Ramaswamy went on to say that Ms. Jayalalithaa’s political absence at this juncture would be a setback not to her but to the State, considering the political happenings in Tamil Nadu during the last regime of the DMK.

Professor A.R. Venkatachalapathy of the Madras Institute of Development Stutdies (MIDS) said Ms Jayalalithaa’s future would depend on how things would unfurl in the coming days, particularly how her appeal in the higher courts is decided.

“She may remote control the party and administration for a short period of one or two months. It may not be possible for her to remote control an election in a State,” Mr Venkatachalapathy said.

The historian also felt that the BJP could make use of the present crisis to make inroads in Tamil Nadu politics, considering their performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls and the DMK’s failure to win any credibility.

Agreeing with Mr Venkatachalapathy’s argument, sociologist P. Manikandan said it is not just the BJP, but all political parties would seek to capitalise on the situation and try to turn it to their favour.

He, however, reasoned that the strength of the AIADMK as a political organization would continue to pose a tough challenge to rivals in the State. “Both regional and national parties have been waiting for this day. It may ultimately lead to a situation already existing in Maharashtra where both the regional and national parties are playing an equally important role,” he added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.