J. Jayalalitha

J. Jayalalitha Biography

J. Jayalalitha was originally an actress who turned into a politician later on. She was born on February 24, 1948 and was named as Komalavalli by her parents Jayaram and Sandhiya. She had her schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls High School at Bangalore and Church Park Convent, Chennai. She excelled in education that she was honored with scholarship to continue her higher education but the financial difficulties of her family made her continue her career in the film industry.

J. Jayalalitha first made her appearance in the Kannada film Chinnada Gombe when she was just 15 and later showed her face in Telugu and Tamil films also. Her first film in Tamil was Vennira Aadai. Her partnership with MGR in the film Aayirathil Oruvan and many other films later on made her entry into politics. As she was well versed in Bharata Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri and Mohini Attam, she could make a brilliant career in film industry.

She was made as the secretary of AIADMK and in 1984 she was nominated as member of Rajya Sabha. This made her entry into Tamil Nadu politics. She became the political disciple of MGR and after his death the AIADMK broke into two, and the party headed by J. Jayalalitha was opposed by that of Janaki Ramachandran. She was first elected legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu in the year 1989.

She was elected as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the year 1991 and continued in the office for five years. She was held from participating in the election of 2001 due to the suit filed against her for illegally acquiring the property belonging to TANSI. Later this was resolved and she stood in the mid-term poll in the Andipatti constituency and won. In this time, she had to face lots of controversies and was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 2001 to 2006 though she could not be in the office in the time period between 21 - 03 - 21 and 02 - 03 - 2002 until the filed suit is cleared.  Again after a lapse of five years she grabbed the seat of Chief Minister in the year May 2011.

Jayalalithaa became the first incumbent chief minister in India to be disqualified from holding office due to conviction in a disproportionate assets case on 27 September 2014. On 11 May 2015, the Karnataka High Court acquitted Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case, and she resumed office as Chief Minister on 23 May. She was subsequently re-elected by the electorate of the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency of North Chennai in a by-election held on 27 June 2015. Jayalalithaa was again elected as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the May 2016 elections. She retained the R. K. Nagar constituency with a margin of 39,545 votes over her DMK rival. She was the second Chief Minister. after M. G. Ramachandran, to serve consecutive terms as Chief Minister.

J. Jayalalitha was affectionately called as Ammu, Amma, and Puratchi thalaivi. Her welfare measures for women include Cradle Baby Scheme and All Women Police Station. She won Film fare Best Actress Award thrice and Honorary Doctorate Degree four times and Doctor of Letters twice. She got Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamil Nadu in 1972.

Her life in her own words: “My mother dominated one third of my life and the next major part was dominated by MGR. Now I have the remaining part for myself but I have to fulfill some duties and responsibilities”.

On 22 September 2016, Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, for infection and acute dehydration. Over the next 74 days, she was treated by a team of specialist doctors from Apollo, AIIMS and from London, U.K.. Her condition slowly improved. She was also said to be suffering from severe pulmonary infection and septicaemia, which were cured. On 4 December, specialist doctors at AIIMS declared her "fit" and ready to be shifted to her house in Poes Garden whenever ready, indicating that she was well, conscious and aware of events around her since her first signs of major improvement in November. The next day, however, she was re-admitted to the ICU after she suffered a cardiac arrest around 4:45 pm. The hospital released a press statement saying that the chief minister's condition was "very critical" and that she was on life support. The hospital officially announced the death of the chief minister on 5 December 2016 at 11:30 PM.

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Updated: September 14, 2017