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Jayalalithaa conviction is a career-slump: Not more
On September 27, when Special Court judge Justice John Michael D’Cunha delivered a landmark verdict in a disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa, debates were conducted across the media on whether this was the end of the 66-year-old heavyweight’s political career.”Amma”, as she is fondly known by her supporters in the South, was denied bail yet again on Tuesday, sending shock waves through the AIADMK, which was still reeling under the hard-to-face fact that their leader, who enjoyed a cult status, would be barred from contesting elections for the next ten years.
This was the result of one of the path-breaking Supreme Court rulings which enforced that convicted lawmakers could not continue in office.
Jayalithaa’s conviction is the result of an 18-year-old case first filed by maverick leader Subramanian Swamy who was then the head of the Janata Party and whose acrimonious relationship with Jayalalithaa is well-documented. Swamy, who has on many occasions during government formation lobbied strongly to be the PM, had once famously remarked “Agar meri kundli mein hoga toh main pradhanmantri banoonga”.Swamy, who has at the level of local politics not been averse to allying with Amma in the state, had well-disguised his political ambition attempt to dislodge both the DMK patriarch Karunanidhi and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa by presenting his agenda as a fight against corruption.
In 1996, Swamy struck a deal with foe-in-chief Jayalalithaa to withdraw her candidate for the post of Madras Mayor, for which Karunanidhi’s son, MK Stalin, was a strong contender. In a surprise move, Jayalalithaa accepted Swamy’s call for a united fight to the extent of supporting her bitter rival and the state unit chief of the Janata Party, Chandralekha.
Jayalalithaa: One of the most manipulative and astute politicians in India
After Swamy, it was the DMK which pursued the case against Jayalalithaa which led to the historic verdict on her conviction. The Karnataka High Court then set another milestone by refusing bail to her, calling corruption “a human right violation” which led to economic imbalance, a crime whose punishment was to set a precedence.
Does Jayalalithaa’s conviction in a case which will have implications in the political narrative of Tamil Nadu finally end the journey of the AIADMK? The verdict is a huge win for the judiciary, which has been accused of going slow in the justice process with lack of reforms being a major obstacle. With senior politicians like Madhu Koda, Om Prakash Chautala, Laloo Yadav and now Jayalalithaa convicted in corruption cases, and ministers in the previous government including Suresh Kalmadi and A Raja serving jail terms, it brings in a sense of optimism vis-a-vis Indian politics.
But the inherent nature of Indian polity which has on many occasions subverted judicial verdicts should lend a ray of hope to Jayalalithaa, who cannot be written off from mainstream politics, because electoral politics in India has never been slave to court convictions – and who better than Jayalalithaa’s counsel and Law Minister in the Vajpayee government, Ram Jethmalani, to vouch for it.
Jethmalani has been witness to some of the most significant trials and convictions in the country; he has in the last few years been the counsel to BJP President and ex Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi, Sahara group honcho Subrata Roy and now Jayalalithaa who is entitled to optimism, going by the track record of her counsel’s high-profile cases. Amit Shah who was sent behind bars on charges of extortion, corruption and extra-judicial killings in Gujarat had to step down from the Modi government after the CBI charged him with kidnapping and murder.
But Shah who is out on bail in two cases is now the star campaigner for the BJP and is now second-in-command of the ruling government as Modi’s confidante and Party President.
Laloo Yadav, who was convicted in the fodder scam, aligned with ex-rival Nitish Kumar to successfully win by-elections in Bihar. His wife Rabri Devi had run the state as proxy Chief Minister when Laloo was forced to resign on corruption charges. Laloo was later made the Union Railways Minister. Former Telecom Minister A Raja and parliamentarian and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi who went behind bars in the telecom scam are out on bail and active participants in Tamil Nadu’s political maneuverings.
Jayalalithaa, considered one of the most manipulative and astute politicians in the country who, like many of her contemporaries has bartered
Film star Jayalalithaa
ideology for power, understands this facet of Indian politics and has used it to her advantage when she was convicted in September 2001 in the Tansi land case and was forced to step down. The Supreme Court had then too ruled that she could not continue as Chief Minister of the state after being convicted. But within five months, Amma was back as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after being acquitted in the case.
This time too, Amma, arguably the shrewdest of the troika of India’s most powerful women politicians, is playing her cards with the precision unique to her. Her proxy, O Panneerselvam, who has now taken over as the Chief Minister has ensured that the lady who has followers waiting to commit themselves to extremes at the slightest indication, runs the government with deft handling by her lieutenants.
At the national level, Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK is the third-largest party which decimated the DMK to win 37 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Some say that when she boycotted PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony to protest against the presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, she had well anticipated her conviction; many insist that her decision to not be a part of the government was influenced by this foresight.
With the pro Tamil card and the numbers presently in her favour, it is too early to write Jayalalithaa off India’s political map.
(Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will be published in 2015.)
Courtesy ndtv.com
| What life looks like for Jaya in jail
CHENNAI: AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa is in good health and shares a cell with Sasikala and Ilavarasi at the Parappanna Agrahara Central Prison, said Karnataka’s DIG for prisons, P M Jaisimha. Dismissing talk of the possibility of shifting the former chief minister to a prison in Tamil Nadu, Jaisimha said, “according to provisions of the Karnataka prison manual (rule 581), a prisoner can’t be shifted when an appeal is pending before any court or during the permitted appeal period after sentencing.” “We have provided a cot for Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Ilavarasi based on doctors’ advice,” he told TOI over phone. Jaisimha also said that no visitor — neither Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam nor any senior official – has met Jayalalithaa in the prison since September 27. The official also denied reports in a section of the media that Jayalalithaa has been assigned the job of rolling incense sticks. “We have not assigned any job for her since she is only a short-termer (a prisoner who is not undergoing rigorous imprisonment). There is no compulsion for her to take a job. If she wishes to do something then we will assign that job,” he added. The 66-year-old three-time chief minister, who has been allotted VVIP cell number 23, reads newspapers without fail, Jaisimha said. She eats simple food, either from the prison or from outside. “She takes milk, brown bread, biscuits, sandwiches and apples. Her food also consists of one or two idlis or a few chappatis. We have been providing food according to her wish and as per the doctors’ advice,” the DIG said. Jaisimha said that Jayalalithaa insists on things being provided to her as per prison manual. She has not asked for any luxury. She is very co-operative with officials. “She is very much aware of prison rules. She has not been provided an air-conditioned cell,” he said. Jayalalithaa wears regular clothes, not prison uniform. He also denied reports that a team of Tamil Nadu prison officials visited Parappana Agrahara prison. Jaisimha said any prisoner in the prison can meet a maximum of six visitors in a day. “Only Sasikala has been meeting visitors,” he said.- Courtesy Times of India Bail plea to come up in SC on Monday Jailed former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s plea for bail in the disproportionate wealth case is likely to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday. Lawyers associated with her case said some procedural aspect for mentioning it for urgent hearing was yet to be completed and the apex court registry is likely to put it in the mentioning list of October 13. Jayalalithaa, who was denied bail by the Karnataka High Court following her conviction in the case, had on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for bail. The AIADMK chief, who has been behind bars for the last 12 days, challenged the High Court order which had refused her bail. She said as Chief Minister she did not misuse her powers in this case. The former Chief Minister also cited grounds of being a senior citizen and a woman for getting out of jail. The 66-year-old veteran politician was denied bail by the High Court on October 7 despite the Special Public Prosecutor not objecting to grant of conditional bail to her. Courtesy The Hindu |