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AIADMK moves to deny Sasikala access to Jayalalithaa’s memorials
Jayalalithaa’s memorial is likely to be one of the stops for Sasikala when she returns to Chennai.
Ahead of V K Sasikala’s return to Chennai on February 7, Tamil Nadu’s ruling party AIADMK is ensuring that it is firmly in control of some of the physical manifestations of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s legacy -- her burial place and residence.
Late Tuesday, the public works department (PWD) temporarily closed entry for the public at the ₹80-crore memorial built for Jayalalithaa on the Marina beach citing unfinished work just a week after it was opened.
In a huge show of strength, chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami had inaugurated it on January 27 - timed carefully on the same day as Sasikala's release from prison. Though she completed her four-year prison sentence in the disproportionate assets case in Bengaluru on that day; she was being treated for Covid-19 at the city’s Victoria hospital and is currently in quarantine.
“The work will take at least 15 days to complete,” said a senior PWD official not wishing to be named. Though the main structure built like a phoenix is complete, adjacent to it works are on for a museum and an educational room for students.
“It is difficult to complete this work with crowds thronging,” AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar said at a press conference on Wednesday. He said that it was inaugurated because the first phase of the mausoleum was complete.
Jayalalithaa’s memorial is likely to be one of the stops for Sasikala when she returns. In February 2017, while she was on her way to Bengaluru to surrender, she had halted at the memorial and thumped her palm thrice on the ground, seemingly taking a vow.
The government has boosted security around Jayalalithaa’s sprawling residence ‘Veda Nilayam’ at the upscale Poes Garden. A day after opening Jayalalithaa’s mausoleum, Palaniswami inaugurated her residence as a memorial with several riders from the Madras high court including not to open it to the public.
Assistant commissioner of police, KPS Devaraj said that security arrangements were made from the day Jayalalithaa's residence was turned into a memorial on January 28. "There are 20 policemen including an inspector guarding the place since its opening because of high court's order not to allow the public," said Devaraj of Teynampet police station which has jurisdiction over Poes Garden.
The government’s acquisitions and transformation of the property is being challenged in court by Jayalalithaa’s legal heirs - niece J Deepa and nephew J Deepak. Sasikala had moved into the residence with Jayalalithaa in 1988. She lived there permanently even after Jayalalithaa’s death except for brief periods in 1996 and 2012, when Jayalalithaa had banished her. Sasikala was building a bungalow opposite this property but it was attached by Income Tax department in October 2020.
Sasikala will be staying in Chennai’s T Nagar near the house of her niece Krishnapriya. Her mother, Sasikala's sister-in-law J Ilavarasi who was convicted in the same case will be released from a Bengaluru prison on February 5.
“From Hosur to her T Nagar house she will receive a grand welcome,” Sasikala's nephew TTV Dhinakaran told reporters. “We will bring a major change to Tamil Nadu,” said Dhinakaran who floated Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) with a breakaway faction of Sasikala’s supporters who want her to reclaim the AIADMK.
Sasikala also plans to file a curative petition to claim the AIADMK's iconic ‘two-leaves’ symbol. The AIADMK has declared that Sasikala who was expelled from the party in 2017 will not be be taken back into the fold.
“In the 2019 parliamentary elections and assembly by-polls, AMMK contested against two-leaves symbol and tried to divide the AIADMK so no cadre or people of Tamil Nadu will accept them,” said Jayakumar.
Political observers feel may not be able to galvanise supporters in large numbers to bring in decisive change quickly
“AIADMK wants to pre-empt the Sasikala faction from encashing on Jayalalithaa’s legacy and the memorial is a symbol of those efforts,” said political commentator Maalan Narayanan. “Sasikala may also show her strength by making a trip to the memorial to counter the AIADMK but it will be a one-day show and may not have a lingering effect.”
