| J. Jayalalitha ஜெ. ஜெயலலிதா |
|
|---|---|
| Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 May 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | M. Karunanidhi |
| Constituency | Srirangam |
| In office 2 March 2002 – 12 May 2006 |
|
| Preceded by | O. Panneerselvam (Acting CM) |
| Succeeded by | M. Karunanidhi |
| Constituency | Andipatti |
| In office 14 May 2001 – 21 September 2001 |
|
| Preceded by | M. Karunanidhi |
| Succeeded by | O. Panneerselvam (Acting CM) |
| Constituency | Did not contest |
| In office 24 June 1991 – 12 May 1996 |
|
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Succeeded by | M. Karunanidhi |
| Constituency | Bargur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 February 1948 Mysore, India |
| Political party | AIADMK |
| Residence | Poes Garden, Chennai, India |
| Religion | Hinduism |
Jayalalithaa Jayaram (Tamil: ஜெயலலிதா ஜெயராம்) ; born 24 February 1948) commonly referred to as J. Jayalalitha, is the Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. She is the incumbent general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), a Dravidian party. She is called Amma ('Mother') and Puratchi Thalaivi ('Revolutionary Leader') by her followers.[1] She was a successful film actor in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi before entering politics.
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Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February 1948 in a typical Mandyam Iyengar family and was also known at that time as Komalavalli. She was born in Melukote in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka near to the city of Mysore. Her grandfather was in the service of the then Mysore kingdom as a surgeon, and the prefix Jaya has been added to all the names in the family to reflect their association with Maharaja His Late Highness Sir Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore.[2]
Jayalalithaa’s father, who had been a wealthy lawyer, died when she was two years old having lost all of his money.[2] Her mother then moved with her children to Bangalore, where Jayalalithaa's maternal grandparents lived. Her mother eventually began to work as an actress in Tamil cinema, based in Chennai and having taken the screen name of Sandhya.[2][3] While in Bangalore, Jayalalithaa attended Bishop Cotton Girls' High School.[4] She completed her childhood education at Sacred Heart Matriculation School (popularly known as Church Park Presentation Convent or Presentation Church Park Convent) in Chennai.[3] She excelled at school and has said that she was offered a government scholarship to pursue further education[4] and that her ambition was to become a lawyer, but that the financial position of her family prevented this.[5] She appears not to have taken up a place offered to her at Stella Maris College, Chennai.[2]
Her mother persuaded her to work in films when Jayalalitha was still in school, taking assurances from producers that shooting would take place only during summer vacations and that she would not miss her classes. Jayalalitha acted in an English language film, Epistle, released in 1961. She made her debut as the lead actress in Kannada films while still in school, aged 15, in Chinnada Gombe (1964). [2]
She got her first break in Tamil movie industry in Vennira Aadai (1965), directed by C. V. Sridhar. The following year, she made her debut in Telugu cinema with the film Manushulu Mamathalu. She was the first heroine to appear in skirts in Tamil films.[6]
Between 1965 and 1972 she acted frequently with M. G. Ramachandran and she also worked with B. Saroja Devi in Arasa Kattalai. Her other early roles were in suspense films such as Naan and comedies such as Galatta Kalyanam.[7]
In 1972, Jayalalithaa acted in Pattikada Pattanama opposite Sivaji Ganesan, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. The film also won her a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil. She was the first recipient of Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil and Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu when the categories were introduced in 1972. Her performance in Suryakanthi and Chandradhoyam were critically acclaimed and the former won her another Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil in 1973.
Her other films with Sivaji Ganesan include Galatta Kalyanam and Deiva Magan. Deiva Magan also holds the distinction of being the first ever Tamil film to be submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[8] She continued pairing up with younger actors such as Ravichandran and Jaishankar in a number of films such as Vairam, Baghdad Perazhagi.
Later Tamil films in which she acted included Kandan Karunai and she also starred in Bollywood films, initially in Izzat, which saw her paired with Dharmendra.[9] She also established her popularity in Telugu films, including Sri Krishna Satya. Her last film was Nadhiyai Thedi Vandha Kadal which released in 1980.
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Varied topics
Forerunners
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Her involvement in politics grew from her association with Ramachandran, who had founded the AIADMK and was Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as well as an actor, In 1980 he made Jayalalithaa the party's Propaganda Secretary. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1984.[10] [11][12][13][14][15][16] According to well documented media reports and several publications, including books and journals, Jayalalithaa and M. G. Ramachandran had a long period of extramarital relationship[17][18][19][20][21][22], and her position as MGR's mistress helped her to become his political heir.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29] and as Ramachandran's political disciple she soon became the leader.[30][31][32][33][34][35] After the death of Ramachandran she was alienated by a faction of the party who chose to support his wife, Janaki Ramachandran.
She was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in 1989. and became the first woman to be elected Leader of the Opposition. In 1991, following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi just days before the elections, her alliance with the Indian National Congress enabled her to ride the wave of sympathy that gave the coalition victory. Re-elected to the assembly, she became the first elected female chief minister and the youngest ever chief minister of Tamil Nadu, serving the full tenure from 24 June 1991 to 12 May 1996. Janaki Ramachandran had technically been the first female chief minister following her husband's death, but she was unelected.
Due to an anti-incumbency wave, and several allegations of corruption and malfeasance against her and her ministers, she lost power to the D.M.K in 1996, in a landslide defeat. All the ministers in her erstwhile cabinet, including her, were defeated in the elections and six of them lost their deposits, meaning that they did not even secure the minimum number of votes expected of them.
She returned to power with a huge majority in the 2001 elections, having mustered a bigger coalition and defying many pre-poll predictions. In the 2006 assembly elections, her party lost to the DMK.
Her first term as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu resulted in several legal actions being brought against her, mainly involving charges of embezzlement and monetary fraud.
In 2001, a specially designated court convicted her of criminal breach of trust and of illegally acquiring governmental property belonging to TANSI, a state-run agency. She was sentenced to five years' imprisonment but appealed to the Supreme Court of India. As the conviction stood until the outcome of the appeal was decided, she was disqualified from contesting the 2001 elections. When her party won those elections further controversy ensued because she was installed as Chief Minister as a non-elected member of the state assembly.
On 21 September 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that "a person who is convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (1) read with (4) and cannot continue to function as such". Thereby, the bench decided that "in the appointment of Ms. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister there has been a clear infringement of a Constitutional provision and that a writ of quo warranto must issue".[36]
In effect, her appointment as Chief Minister was declared null and invalid. Therefore, technically, she was not the Chief Minister in the period between 14 May 2001 and 21 September 2001. O. Panneerselvam, a minister in her party, was subsequently installed as the Chief Minister. However, his government was widely believed to have been puppeted and micro-managed by Jayalalithaa. In 2003, the Supreme Court acquitted her in the specific case, for lack of conclusive evidence to convict her. This cleared the way for her to contest a mid-term poll to the Andipatti constituency, after the elected representative for the seat, gave up his membership. Winning the election by a handsome margin, Jayalalithaa took over the Chief Ministership again. A few criminal litigations, from her first term rule, continued in the courts in the neighbouring state of Karnataka, but she was acquitted in 2011.[37]
After the 2006 assembly elections, O. Panneerselvam was elected the AIADMK legislature party leader and hence the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly after she decided not to attend the assembly except if "absolutely necessary". However, by virtue of her strong control over her party, she was considered to be the de-facto leader of the opposition in the state. Later that month when all the attending AIADMK MLAs were suspended, she started attending the assembly. She was elected the legislature party leader. Of the 11 corruption cases levied against her in period 1996–2003, she was acquitted in 10.[38][39]
In April 2011 the AIADMK was part of a 13-party alliance that successfully won the 14th state assembly elections. Jayalalitha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the third time on 16 May 2011, having been elected unanimously as the leader of the AIADMK party subsequent to those elections.[40]
On 19 December, 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled her long time close aide Sasikala Natarajan and 13 others and relieved them from the AIADMK. Sasikala has been a close confidante of Jayalalithaa for several years now. A former video parlour operator, Sasikala quickly became close to the AIADMK supremo in the '90s. Most of the party members have welcomed her decision.[41]
| Year | Status | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Elected | Bodinayakkanur |
| 1991 | Elected | Bargur, Kangayeam |
| 1996 Bargur | ||
| 2001 | Elected | Andipatti |
| 2006 | Reelected | Andipatti |
| 2011 | Elected | Srirangam |
| From | To | Election |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 1996 | 1991 Tamil Nadu state assembly election |
| 2002 | 2006 | 2001 Tamil Nadu state assembly election |
| 2011 | Till Date | 2011 Tamil Nadu state assembly election |
Jayalalithaa has received several honorary doctorates since that awarded to her in 1991 by the University of Madras. In addition, she has been awarded:
| Preceded by Karunanidhi |
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu First Tenure 1991–1996 |
Succeeded by Karunanidhi |
| Preceded by Karunanidhi |
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Second Tenure 14 May 2001–16 September 2001 |
Succeeded by O. Panneerselvam |
| Preceded by O. Panneerselvam |
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (Quashed) 2002–2006 |
Succeeded by Karunanidhi |
| Preceded by Karunanidhi |
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Third Tenure 2011–2016 |
Succeeded by "Incumbent" |
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