Pages Menu
Categories Menu

Posted by on Dec 5, 2016 in TellMeWhy |

Who Was Jayalalithaa Jayaraman?

Who Was Jayalalithaa Jayaraman?

Who Was Jayalalithaa Jayaraman? Jayalalithaa Jayaraman; born (24th February 1948), commonly referred to as Amma and Puratchi Thalaivi by members in her party; also called as Selvi J.Jayalalitha, or Kumari Jayalalitha or Jaya or Jayalalitha Jayaram, was an Indian politician and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in office since 2015.

Previously she served as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996, in 2001, from 2002 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2014. She was an actress before her entry into politics and appeared in 140 films which include Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada films.

As a leading actress in films from 1961 to 1980, she was considered as one of the most prolific and most versatile actress having appeared in films of different genres and for performing wide variety of characters. She was also known for her dancing skills. She is referred to as the queen of Tamil cinema.

She is the general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). She is popularly referred to as Puratchi Thalaivi, Thanga Gopuram, Thanga Chillai and Thanga Tharagai (Golden Maiden) by her followers. In 2001, an additional letter “a” was appended to the spelling of her name for reasons related to numerology.

As an actress, she frequently worked with another actor-turned-politician, M. G. Ramachandran (MGR). This led to wide speculation that Jayalalitha was introduced to politics by MGR. However, she used to deny these claims and stated that she entered politics by her choice. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha, elected from Tamil Nadu, from 1984 to 1989.

Soon after the death of MGR, Jayalalitha proclaimed herself his political heir. She was the second female chief minister of Tamil Nadu after Janaki Ramachandran.

Jayalalithaa became the first incumbent chief minister in India to be disqualified from holding office due to conviction in a disproportionate assets case on 27 September 2014. On 11 May 2015, the Karnataka High Court acquitted Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case, and she resumed office as Chief Minister on 23 May.

She was subsequently re-elected by the electorate of the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency of North Chennai in a by-election held on 27 June 2015.

She was re-elected as Chief Minister on 19 May 2016 and took the oath as Chief Minister for the sixth time on 23 May 2016. She retained the R. K. Nagar constituency with a margin of 39,545 votes over her DMK rival. She was the second Chief Minister after M. G. Ramachandran, to serve consecutive terms as Chief Minister.

In her victory speech, she commented, “Even when 10 parties allied themselves against me, I did not have a coalition and I placed my faith in God and built an alliance with the people. It is clear that the people have faith in me and I have total faith in the people.”

In September 2016, she was admitted to hospital. In December, shortly after being released from hospital, she was re-admitted on 4 December after cardiac arrest. The next day, Apollo Hospitals Executive Director Sangita Reddy said that she was in critical state. According to India Today, MLA’s from her AIADMK were summoned to the hospital to sign a declaration naming O. Panneerselvam as her successor.

Jayalalithaa Jayaraman passed away on Monday night, (05th December 2016), after a 75-day battle for life at the Apollo Hospital here, bringing to an end an eventful journey of the film star-turned-politician who straddled public life in the southern state for over three decades. There was hectic activity inside and outside the Apollo hospital premises for over an hour before the convoy carrying the late chief minister’s mortal remains rolled out well past midnight.

Content for this question contributed by V. Prabhakar, resident of Red Hills (Sengundram), Thiruvallur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India