As They See It

MADURAI: To her supporters she is known as Amma Mother, Golden Woman, Supreme Commander, Revolutionary Leader, Walking Goddess. To her ...

MADURAI: To her supporters she is known as Amma Mother, Golden Woman, Supreme Commander, Revolutionary Leader, Walking Goddess. To her detractors she is the First Lady of Misrule, a mad woman, an arrogant, corrupt, conniving harridan who will stop at nothing to achieve her ends. She is Jayalalitha, the woman who brought down India8217;s Government, precipitating the current general election8230;

If the Congress were in a position to form a government next month8230;this is the woman with whom Mrs Gandhi would have to do business. It might not be an enviable prospect, as Mrs Gandhi recently discovered when Jayalalitha left her standing alone at a rally the two women had been supposed to host jointly. 8220;Forming a coalition government with Jayaram Jayalalitha would be like going to bed with an anaconda,8221; one Congress party stalwart said as Mrs Gandhi vainly struggled to form a new administration after the downfall of Vajpayee8217;s regime.

To hear Jayalalitha, one would think she was the one who had been deserted. But having pulled the rug from under Vajpayee, she is now obsessed with what she calls his 8220;betrayal8221;8230;Jayalalitha, a former film actress, has been entertaining rallies with jingles, little songs of her own composition, about the 8220;perfidy8221; of the Prime Minister and one of his ministers.

Ostensibly she parted company with the BJP because it refused to accept her demands that George Fernandes, the Defence Minister, be sacked and that a dismissed naval chief be reinstated. But her real problem with Fernandes was that he reneged on an offer to help her to fight multimillion-pound corruption charges. He also failed 8212; the final straw, according to some sources 8212; to offer her his condolences when her dog died8230;

Nevertheless, the masses love her. She speaks of matters that concern them: water scarcity, electricity shortages and the poor distribution of subsidised food. The rotund Jayalalitha is specially feted for her pale complexion and rosy cheeks. After a public address near Madurai on the final day of campaigning this week, well-wishers trooped on to the podium to present her with colourful silk saris for her collection8230;