Tamil Nadu witnessed unprecedented religious frenzy since September 22, when J. Jayalalithaa was admitted in Apollo Hospitals in Chennai because of “fever and dehydration”.
Prayers and processions for her speedy recovery were galore. Local news channels telecast a daily bulletin of ‘special prayers’ held across the state. Visuals showed grand pujas, and AIADMK leaders jostling in front of the sanctum sanctorum, not for darshan but to ensure that their faces were in the frame.
The frenzy, the media noted, was touching “fanatical heights”. One woman died in a stampede at a puja held at a temple in Thiruvannamalai town. An AIADMK worker in Madurai, Irulandi, meditated on a bed of “painful and poisonous” thorns for 24 hours. And a mega yagna organised by AIADMK leaders turned awry as the smoke disturbed a decades-old beehive, and the bees went on a stinging spree, leaving Ambur MLA R. Balasubramani hospitalised.
One of the more intriguing events was a low-key puja at a ‘temple site’ in Iyyepedu village in Vellore district. The parched 1,200sq.ft plot belongs to A.P. Srinivasan, a Madras High Court lawyer, who plans to build a temple for his ‘goddess’—Jayalalithaa. “It will be called Amma Aalayam,” he says.
“Will it be like the temple for [actor] Kushboo?” juts in THE WEEK's Chief Photographer Bhanu Prakash Chandra.
Srinivasan, 38, turns grim. “How can he ask such a question?” complains the joint secretary of the AIADMK youth wing. “I am talking of my goddess here, and he is talking about a temple constructed by crazy film buffs.”
The Amma Aalayam project is not about sycophancy, asserts Srinivasan. “I do not care what people say,” he says. “Some people might criticise or mock me; I really do not care. Jayalalithaa is a goddess to me.”
It is “pure devotion”, he says. “We [youth leaders] would be standing in a line, very disciplined, when she is about to arrive at a public function,” he says. “But, the moment we see her vehicle, we forget all discipline and go berserk. Such things happen only when we see something ‘divine’, isn’t it?”
There have been such instances when he has lost his footwear or had his shirt torn or soiled in the melee, says Srinivasan. “And I would realise only after she has left the arena,” he says. “Once, while she came to MGR's [former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran] memorial in Chennai on his death anniversary, her car's tyre ran over my foot. But I was in such a trance that I felt no pain. It was only several minutes after she left the venue that I realised my right foot had been crushed. How can one explain that?”
Srinivasan grew up listening to MGR songs. The ideals they conveyed left a lasting impression on him, he says. He, however, became an AIADMK activist in 2003 “solely attracted by Amma's grit and greatness”. “In fact, I became a lawyer because I read that she had wanted to become one,” he says.
On March 25, 1989, the ruling DMK's legislators led by former law minister Durai Murugan assaulted Jayalalithaa in the assembly, recalls Srinivasan.
“She exited the house dishevelled, with a torn sari, and vowed that she would return to the house only as chief minister. And she did that in 1991, when the DMK was demolished in the elections,” he says. “That made her a true heroine.”
Similarly, on May 27, 2006, even as all opposition MLAs of the AIADMK had been suspended, Jayalalithaa went alone to the assembly and single-handedly took on the treasury benches, notes Srinivasan. “That showed how gritty a leader she was,” he says. “She showed that in 2003, too, when she boldly banned the multi-crore lottery business.”
Then, of course, there are plenty of social welfare schemes that established Jayalalithaa as a messiah of the masses, he says. “The Amma Canteen, Amma Drinking Water, Amma Seeds... they are all great examples,” he says.
Jayalalithaa's Cradle Baby Scheme—under which mothers could anonymously leave newborns in cradles kept at government hospitals—helped reduce female infanticide, he notes.
“Now, Amma Baby Kits are given to women giving birth in government hospitals,” he says. “Also, farmers below the poverty line are given goats and cows, and students are being given Amma laptops.”
Srinivasan says he has been wanting “to do something for Amma” for long. “Finally, I decided to build a temple for her,” he says. “The bhumi puja is over, the plan is ready and construction will begin soon.”
The temple will have a six-foot bronze idol of Jayalalithaa as the presiding 'deity'. Idols of former chief ministers C.N. Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran, too, will be installed, he says.
“The walls will have murals depicting the key moments of Amma's life,” he says. “The budget for the temple is about Rs 55 lakh, and I have registered the Amma Aalayam Trust for administrative and accounting purposes.”
Srinivasan's dream was to have a temple for “Jayalalithaa—the living goddess”. That dream, unfortunately, has been shattered.
“I feel as if I have lost my own Amma. I am lost, as if my soul has left my body,” he WhatsApps me, with a selfie from Rajaji Hall in Chennai, where Jayalalithaa's body was kept before her funeral at Marina Beach. “My mission to spread the story of her life will continue forever.”
