Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s caste has become a subject matter of discussion, almost nine years after her passing. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol. Thirumavalavan recently triggered a row by alluding that All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) founder M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) was instrumental in facilitating the “intrusion” of a Brahmin (Jayalalithaa) into the Dravidian movement and laid the path for her leadership of a Dravidian party.
In her early years of heading the AIADMK after MGR’s death and later becoming the Chief Minister in 1991, Jayalalitha (as she spelt her name then) had endured strong criticism from her political opponents, notably the DMK, on account of her upper caste origins.
Defiance in compliance
Responding to taunts on her Brahmin roots, she once declared in the Legislative Assembly, “Naan pappathi thaan (I am a Brahmin woman).” This was sometime in 1991. However, records indicating when and in what context she made this statement are not readily available.
Nonetheless, a perusal of The Hindu’s archives show that in September 1991, political discourse in Tamil Nadu was dominated by what was perceived an anti-Brahmin campaign by the DMK. Under former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s leadership, the DMK had announced its intention to expose the “group” in power then. Karunanidhi had clarified his statement (on the ‘group’) should not be misconstrued to mean another anti-Brahmin movement would be launched.
