A full circle: It ended where it all started

CHENNAI: It all ended where it began. It is from that very entrance of the majestic Rajaji Hall, where she lay in state on Tuesday that she vowed to carve a niche for herself in Dravidian politics after she was pushed and assaulted by her mentor M G Ramachandran’s nephew when she tried to board the gun carriage vehicle with his body.

Twenty nine years after that December evening, Jayalalithaa lay in state for nearly nine hours at the Rajaji Hall in Anna Salai and lakhs of people led by the political leadership of the country – from President to the Prime Minister to Chief Ministers – gave her tearful adieu.

From the fateful day on December 25, 1987 when she was assaulted and almost molested by the “mob” that did not want her anywhere near the casket of MGR to embarking on her final journey from the very steps she was pushed down – Jayalalithaa was an indomitable fighter who took every challenge that came her way head on.

After having stood near MGR’s casket on the Rajaji steps for 21 hours despite vociferous protests and attempts to bodily remove her, Ms Jayalalithaa refused to budge and boarded the gun carriage vehicle despite being pushed and pulled. However, Janaki Ramachandran’s nephew Deepan pushed her, beat her, and threw her out, leaving her injured and bruised. She was forced to return humiliated to her Poes Garden home. It is after this ugly spat with Janaki Ramachandran’s family, Jayalalithaa got the support of several partymen and senior leaders who egged her to split the AIADMK. She also used her good offices with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to dismiss the Janaki Ramachandran government within 28 days of swearing-in, but could not achieve success till 1991 when she rode to power for the first time riding high on the Rajiv Gandhi’s death.