With just a few vehicles passing through, the lane off Chennai’s popular Stella Maris College leading to Poes Garden is quiet. The few police outposts that once controlled the crowd have fallen silent with just one or two men in khakhi. Veda Nilayam, 36 Poes Garden, one of the most popular addresses in Chennai, that stood as a silent spectator of Tamil Nadu’s politics for over three decades, has also fallen silent like the check posts. The black iron gates remain closed making the big white bungalow with the beautiful balcony nondescript.
Like elsewhere in the city, a small photo of Jayalalithaa garlanded is placed on a chair on her birthday, for the passers-by and the residents of the swanky Poes Garden to remember her. No wonder the former chief minister’s chamber of secret, which wielded an aura of power till September 2016, is caught in a litany of woes.
On February 24, on her 72nd birthday, Poes Garden has fell into complete disuse. In 2017, when Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam aka OPS, decided to merge his faction with the ruling AIADMK led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the government took possession of the once powerful Poes Garden bungalow only to convert it to Jayalalithaa’s memorial. It was one of the two demands by OPS to merge his faction with EPS’s. But converting her house to a memorial is caught in a legal tangle. With petitions from Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar and nephew Deepak claiming to inherit the property, the Income Tax Department attaching a part of the then powerful residence for non-payment of dues and opposition from local residents, conversion of Veda Nilayam to a memorial now looks deserted.
Meanwhile, the mystery surrounded over Jayalalaithaa’s death still remains untangled. The irony is that it was on Monday that the state government, for the seventh time, gave extension to the Justice Arumughaswamy Commission which was set up in 2017 to inquire into the hospitalisation and death of the former chief minister. The tenure of the commission was last extended on October 24 for six months. Apparently, the Supreme Court, based on a petition filed by the Apollo Hospitals, issued a notice to stay any further proceedings of the inquiry commission. On April 26, 2019, a bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, issued notice to stay the proceedings of the commission. The commission which was set up by the state government in 2017, was again based on the demands made by OPS for a smooth merger.
Apparently, OPS who first raised doubts in the hospitalisation and death of Jayalalithaa is yet to appear before the commission and present his submissions. While OPS was summoned thrice in January and February 2019, the Supreme Court issuing a notice to stay its proceedings has turned into an advantage for OPS and the ruling AIADMK which were always basking to reap on the mystery behind Jayalalithaa’s death. Interestingly since April 2019, neither OPS nor the AIADMK government has not moved the Supreme Court to vacate the stay and make the inquiry commission complete the probe. As a result, the Arumughswamy commission has got its extension for the seventh time.
Meanwhile, the government celebrated her birthday as ‘Girl Child Safety Day’ reducing her identity just to women and children.
