The history of AIADMK’s two leaves: from goat lungs to Jayalalithaa’s double magnificence

With Amma dead, rettai ellai (two leaves) is now virtually the face of AIADMK. (Photo: PTI)

The two-leaves (rettai ellai) symbol of the AIADMK was locked in a two-way tussle between the two factions of the party, until the Election Commission decisively allotted it today to the EPS-OPS camp, led by AIADMK Deputy Chief Minister, O Panneerselvam and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edapaddi K Palaniswamy. The decision has been seen as a win over the rival Sasikala faction, led by her nephew T T V Dhinakaran.  

What’s in a symbol, one might think. But the famed ‘Two Leaves’ has a history of bestowing credibility and cementing loyalty of AIADMK’s support base. It is the direct line of continuity of AIADMK bearing the mark of the late party founder, M G Ramachandran, and after that, his equally famed protege, the late J Jayalalithaa. The dispute over the symbol first took place after MGR’s death in 1987. The party was then split into two, between MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa, the actor-turned-politician whom MGR had groomed in many ways. Recognising neither as a ‘true successor’, the EC assigned separate electoral symbols to both these groups — “two doves” to the Janaki Ramachandran faction and “crowing cock” to Jayalalithaa’s faction. However, following Janaki’s routing from Assembly elections and the split benefiting rival DMK under M Karunanidhi, the AIADMK camps reunited behind Jayalalithaa, regaining the “two leaves” and a stable footing in one go.  

The famed symbol, along with the AIADMK Party flag, is known to be the creation of comedian and actor P Pandurangan. Pandurangan’s design was revised four times, with suggestions from MGR himself, till the final version evolved. While thinking about an appropriate party symbol in 1977, an important strand of design inspiration came to him from a butcher’s shop visit, he told the New Indian Express. There he saw binary goat lungs on display which occurred to him as simple yet life giving organs. Turning that figure upside down, became the blueprint of the two-leaves symbol. Easy to draw and replicate, it became the enduring mark of AIADMK.

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According to the party website, the two-leaves symbol stands to indicate that Jayalalithaa “is two times the magnificence of other leaders” and that she specifically or any other leader of the AIADMK, “will work double for its people, as compared to other leaders or parties.”

Jayalalithaa’s death last year catalysed a messy and dramatic split in her party, with the OPS and Sasikala factions clashing over the claim to her singular legacy. The Two-Leaves war and win is representative of that battle over who is legitimate, ‘true’ AIADMK.