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The Tenacious Tamil Housewife
Political history of Tamil Nadu would have panned out differently, but for two women’s love for English movies in the 1970s. It was when a movie star-turned-politician enquired about the video collection of a district collector that Sasikala first became known to the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
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Jayalalithaa had acquainted herself with Sasikala after she had casually enquired with the then Cuddalore district Collector VS Chandralekha about her movie collection. Jayalalithaa and Chandralekha’s friendship had blossomed (they later split) then after former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran (MGR) had appointed the former as high-level committee member and asked her to tour the state and popularise the “nutritious meal” scheme. Chandralekha was the go-to person from whom MGR had wanted Jayalalithaa to take help from. It was about the same time a virtually unknown entity called M Natarajan came within the vicinity of the corridors of power.
A Public Relations Officer (PRO) appointed during M Karunanidhi’s Chief Ministership in 1970-71, Natarajan was later posted as the PRO of Cuddalore district, and in came his wife Sasikala, a regular Tamil housewife from Thiruthuraipoondi who, by then, had already been running a small video lending library in Mylapore along with her younger brother Dhivakaran to make a few extra bucks, unaware that the video library would be her ticket to almost reach the ultimate seat of power decades later. Jayalalithaa became a regular at the library Chandralekha had introduced her to. As the video-cassette (lending) relationship continued, a friendship too blossomed between the two. Notably, those were also the times in AIADMK when a few party seniors like SD Somasundaram had even questioned MGR (His health was slowly deteriorating then) over his proximity to Jayalalithaa but ended up floating a party called Namathu Kazhagam.
However, it did not take long before SDS (who later became Revenue Minister during Jayalalithaa’s first tenure between 1991 and 96) and Alagu Thirunavukkarasu merged their non-starter of a party with AIADMK. The merger was the moment when Jayalalithaa had also understood the organising potential of the conservative housewife from Thiruthuraipoondi. The humble school dropout from the delta district had organised the event in her native Mannargudi in such a manner that it had not only left seasoned politicians with envy but also impressed her friend Jayalalithaa. What started as a simple friendship slowly transformed into a life-long partnership with Jayalalithaa as the latter soon got her friend to stay in Poes Garden permanently. The rest is history.
However, in retrospect, this relationship, which had its own set of low points, was testimony to loyalty and friendship, more so considering that Sasikala hailed originally from a family of DMK loyalists whose president M Karunanidhi was among the VIPs who had attended her wedding in 1973. Remarkably, Sasikala did not let her familial leanings influence her loyalty, which started in a small video library in Mylapore and went on till Jayalalithaa was laid to rest on Marina despite the occasional souring of relationship in 1996 and 2011 when Sasikala publicly disowned her own family for her ‘akka’ and re-entered Poes Garden.
Cadre question presence of Sasikala’s relatives at funeral
Grief stricken AIADMK cadres and supporters, who poured in to pay their last respects to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Rajaji Hall, were surprised when they saw almost all relatives of Sasikala present around her cortege.
Despite the overwhelming sorrow, many Jayalalithaa loyalists felt uneasy to see Sasikala’s husband Natarajan on stage. S Venkatesh of Tiruvanamalai said, “Sasikala’s family was the reason for Amma (Jayalalithaa) getting a bad name earlier and now it is shocking to see the banned coterie on Rajaji Hall stage.” Jayalalithaa had twice made Sasikala leave Veda Nilayam at Poes Garden in 1996 and 2011. During 2011, Jayalalithaa ensured that only Sasikala returned to Poes Garden and her husband Natarajan was nowhere close to the house or party. What started the rumblings was Natarajan being introduced to PM by BJP’s Ila Ganesan, while state Congress president Su Thirunavukkarasar did the same with Rahul Gandhi. SK Murthy from Vellore lamented “they will not allow O Panneerselvam to function freely and will be intent on safeguarding them from cases.” They were irked further more when Sasikala performed the final rites. While she took the lead in the rituals, Jayalalithaa’s nephew Deepak followed her. How could Sasikala, who is from another community conduct the last rites of Jayalalithaa, has been the lingering question in the minds of the cadre. “The presence of Deepak was just an eye wash. The same coterie has prevented him and his sister from visiting their ailing aunt in the hospital earlier,” said K Lingasamy of Uthangarai in Dharmapuri district.
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