Amma schemes will speak her commitment to the poor

From the Amma canteens to Amma gymnasiums and parks, the brand became synonymous with her name. Karunanidhi may have revolutionised the freebies culture in Tamil Nadu but Jayalalithaa mastered the art right under his nose, showering a slew of freebies in 2011 and 2016 on voters. However, Jayalalithaa always took exception to the term ‘freebies’ and chose to call them free of cost, insisting that the populist schemes were aimed only at helping the lower rung masses. 

In the battle of freebies that intensified in 2006, Karunanidhi’s masterstroke of free colour TV scheme among others launched DMK into the ruling saddle but in 2011 and 2016, Jayalalithaa emerged triumphant wooing voters with her own brand of welfare schemes. Combined with anti-incumbency, Jayalalithaa checkmated Karunanidhi in the 2011 elections with a slew of announcements including providing free rice, laptops to students, milch cows and goats, mixer-grinder, and gold for ‘thali’ (mangal sutra) and pushed DMK into the third place in the Assembly, making then ally DMDK the main opposition. 

Jayalalithaa further consolidated her welfare icon image with her Amma brand subsidy-oriented schemes like Amma Canteen, Amma Mineral Water, Amma Cement and Amma Salt. During the 2016 elections, Jayalalithaa expanded her populist portfolio, including free 100 units of power for domestic users, free mobile phones and 50 per cent subsidy for women to buy two-wheelers. She subsequently led her party to a historic successive term in May 2016 Assembly polls, breaking a 32-yearold jinx where a ruling party could seldom retain power.

Moksha Deepam lit for Jayalalithaa

Moksha Deepam was lit at Singaperumal Temple, a sub-temple of Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Srirangam here on Tuesday for the departed Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s soul to rest in peace in heavenly abode. After the funeral ceremony was over in Chennai, the Srirangam temple authorities led by its chief priest Sundar Bhattar lit the five faced kuthuvilakku. A flame along with eight ball of rice flour was taken in a procession around the temple by Sundar Bhattar. As customary, the sanctum sanctorum was closed during the procession and two balls of rice was struck at two doors of the sanctum sanctorum. Amidst chanting of mantras, the door of the sanctum sanctorum was opened and the ball of rice was thrown in various directions. A special pooja was conducted for the departed soul of the late Chief Minister.