Debate continues over Annamalai’s attempt to portray Jayalalithaa as ‘Hindutva leader’

BJP's K. Annamalai calls Jayalalithaa a "Hindutva leader," sparking debate over her ideological stance and political decisions.

BJP State president K. Annamalai’s reiteration of his description of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as a “Hindutva leader” has kept alive the debate over her ideological credentials. 

It was no secret that when Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister during 1991-96 and 2001-06, many of her decisions had impressed the BJP. Three months after the demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992, senior leader L.K. Advani, told a press conference in Chennai that the “growth of mutual goodwill and rapport” between his party and the AIADMK was an “offshoot” of her speech at the National Integration Council (NIC) in November 1992, according to a news report of The Hindu dated March 22, 1993.

At the Council’s meeting, held two weeks prior to the demolition, Jayalalithaa wanted the NIC to take a decision on creating a congenial atmosphere for the conduct of “kar seva” in Ayodhya. This speech of hers continued to be discussed for months in the State.

In the Assembly on March 18, 1993, a week after Jayalalithaa announced the parting of ways with the Congress, the then Leader of Opposition S.R. Balasubramoniyan (who later joined the AIADMK and was made a Rajya Sabha MP) said she had favoured the “kar seva” to be performed. Jayalalithaa, however, denied having spoken for the “kar seva” and said she wanted the issues before the Supreme Court to be resolved and conditions created for having a temple. When S. Thirunavvukkarasar (now in the Congress and then running a party of his own – MGR ADMK), accused the AIADMK of straying from the Dravidian movement, the then Chief Minister reacted sharply and asked in what way her party was moving away from the movement. Ten years later, in an interaction with the media, Jayalalithaa said, “If we cannot build a temple in India for Lord Ram, where else can we build it?”

In fact, in the first two years of her first term as Chief Minister, she held the portfolio of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments just to demonstrate her affinity towards her faith. During 2001-06, the Jayalalithaa regime went in for the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act, 2002. Subsequently, it had asked Collectors and police to put an end to animal sacrifice in temples by strictly enforcing the Tamil Nadu Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1950. After severe opposition, both the laws were abandoned. The ‘annadhanam’ scheme, meant for feeding the poor in temples, was given a lot of attention by her government.

However, even when she was an ally of the BJP, the AIADMK’s former general secretary, while releasing her party’s manifesto for the 1998 Lok Sabha poll, asked the national party to put the Ayodhya, Kashi, and Mathura issues on the “backburner or deep freeze” for at least 20 years and prioritise eradication of poverty and unemployment and provision of drinking water and electricity. She also did not consider Ayodhya, Kashi, and Mathura “burning issues,” according to another report of The Hindu dated January 31, 1998.

In a statement, D. Jayakumar, the party’s organisation secretary, and who was in her Cabinet during 1991-96 and 2001-06, recalled the former Chief Minister’s measures for the benefit of Muslims and Christians.