After MGR, Jaya, who? ADMK battles with the legacy question

Before PM Modi found it, the word “guarantee” was associated with MG Ramachandran.

The AIADMK stalwart was called “Minimum Guarantee Ramachandran” in Chennai’s film circles. The G-word caught on as he switched to full-time politics and stuck when he eventually left the DMK, his parent party, in 1972 to found his own.

MGR didn’t have to guarantee; he was the guarantee. His presence was the promise. Since his death in December 1987, his legacy has become the biggest asset of the AIADMK organisation that he left behind. His wife Janaki first staked claim to it and was sworn in as the state’s first woman CM.

Janaki’s record-setting tenure lasted all of 24 days, only to end in open battle on the floor of the House that failed to express trust in the CM. The next claimant to the guaranteed legacy, J Jayalalithaa, proved to be a worthier successor.

She reshaped the party as her own fief, holding on to the MGR link. The link would be brought up close to every poll. Pundits would reevaluate the inevitable incremental fall in the “MGR vote” as fans of the legendary actor aged.

This segment, an unusual posthumous vote-catching category built around screen image, was seen as giving the Jaya party its edge over the DMK, which also competed for more or less the same Dravidian vote base.

As of today, eight years after Jayalalitha’s death, her legacy is severely disputed. The official AIADMK with the two leaves symbol belongs to the group led by Edappadi Palanisamy – at least for now, thanks to Madras High Court’s refusal to intervene.

The ultimate decision will come from the “people’s court”, say the claimants to the Jaya legacy as they hit the road in this poll season. Of the lot, the one to provide the kind of grand spectacle reminiscent of