Mass grief as Indian film star politician known as "Mother" dies

Grief-stricken fans on Tuesday mourned the death of one of India’s most popular politicians, Jayalalithaa Jayaraman, as fears of unrest loomed in her state where she enjoyed almost god-like status.

The 68-year-old former film star was known simply as Amma, or mother, in her native Tamil Nadu where she remained wildly popular despite allegations of corruption, which saw her briefly jailed twice.

Famed for a vast sari collection that won her comparisons with Imelda Marcos, Jayalalithaa was also one of India’s most polarising politicians, seen by some as an autocratic and secretive leader.

But nothing could dent her popularity in Tamil Nadu, where she served three terms as chief minister during which it became one of India’s most prosperous states.

“Our beloved leader, the Iron lady of India... Amma, is no more,” her political party, AIADMK, said on Twitter.

Her body was put on display at a public hall in an open casket, wrapped in an India flag, as thousands of followers began to file past to pay their final respects from early morning.

Several of the mourners could be seen breaking down in tears as they filed past the coffin in the state capital Chennai, according to television images.

Hundreds of devotees had kept a round-the-clock vigil outside the private hospital in Chennai -- the city formerly known as Madras - since she was first admitted in September suffering from a fever.

When she first fell ill one supporter set himself on fire, while an elderly man suspended himself from a crane with steel hooks pierced through his skin.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is to head to Chennai later in the day, offered his condolences.

“I will always cherish the innumerable occasions when I had the opportunity to interact with Jayalalithaa ji (honorific). May her soul rest in peace,” Modi said on Twitter.

The southern state had been tense since Sunday afterreports that her health had worsenedand she had been put on life support.

Earlier on Monday, scuffles broke out outside the hospital as many from the thousands of her supporters who had gathered outside tried to break through the police barricades.

Images on Indian news channels from across Chennai showed many men and women crying after her death was finally confirmed.

When her political mentor and former on-screen love interest M. G. Ramachandran died in 1987, riots and looting broke out across the state.

Ahead of Jayalalithaa’s death, police and security presence had been beefed up across Tamil Nadu over fears of chaos from her emotional followers.

Jayalalithaa had earned the loyalty of many voters with a series of populist schemes, including “Amma canteens” that provided lunch for just three rupees (five cents) and vast election-time giveaways that ranged from laptops to kitchen appliances.

She served as Tamil Nadu’s chief minister, the highest elected position in the state of 71 million people, for nearly 14 years over five terms beginning in 1991. She regained her office last year after a corruption case against her was overturned. Her supporters praised her efforts in fighting rural poverty with handouts like laptop computers for students, cows and goats for farmers, and spice grinders for homemakers.

Gifts are commonly used by Indian political parties to court voters, but her handouts were criticised by some as wasteful pandering and unfair bribery. But Jayalalithaa defended the giveaways as welfare measures aimed at helping the poor.

She herself was known for leading an extravagant lifestyle. In 1997, police found more than 10,000 saris and 750 pairs of shoes after raiding her home as part of a corruption investigation.

In the first half of 2014, Jayalalithaa made a bid to become India’s prime minister by saying she would form a coalition in New Delhi if no party dominated elections. But the Bharatiya Janata Party won a clear majority, catapulting Modi into the nation’s top job.

Later that year, she was forced to step down as chief minister in Tamil Nadu when she was sentenced to four years in prison for amassing more than US$10 million during her political career, a wealth the court said was disproportionate to her income.

She spent 21 days behind bars before the Indian Supreme Court released her on bail. In May 2015, an appeals courtoverturned the corruption charges, clearing the way for her return to power. She returned to office as chief minister on May 23 and a month later was re-elected in a by-election.

Jayalalithaa’s death has plunged one of India’s most economically powerful states into a period of political uncertainty.

Her trusted cabinet aide, O Panneerselvam, was sworn-in as the chief minister, but observers worry whether a loyalist, without real charisma or mass support, will be able to rule smoothly.

After midnight, thousands of people lined both sides of the roads in Chennai trying to catch a glimpse of the late leader as her body was taken from the hospital to her residence in another part of the city.

Jayalalithaa was born in 1948 in the village of Melukote, in what is now the state of Karnataka. Her birth name was Jayalalitha, but she reportedly added an “a’’ on advice from a numerologist.

Jayalalithaa was 13 when she began her film career and quickly became known as a romantic lead in many of the nearly 150 Tamil-language movies that she worked on.

Her lawyer father, also named Jayaram, died when she was 2, prompting her mother to learn shorthand and typing so she could work in a clerical position to support the family and put Jayalalithaa and her brother through school. Her brother died in the early 1990s.

(SCMP)