Jayalalithaa: What are we to make of her medical bulletins?

Amma, as Tamil Nadu endearingly calls Jayalalithaa, is not able to run the show herself. 

Her ill health has confined her to a bed on the second floor of a hospital in Chennai.

We are told Amma’s situation is improving, that she is in control of things, that orders are being duly executed and/or conveyed by her closest friend Sasikala and the latter’s extended family.

Sasikala was running and controlling things ever since Jayalalithaa succeeded MGR, so as to give Amma the needed time and space to administer the state effectively.

They are ensuring that Amma gets the best possible medi-care available so that she returns to Poes Garden as early as possible.  

There is talk of setting up a parallel medical facility at Poes Garden to take care of Jayalalithaa in the event of her return home.

It is said Jayalalithaa is extremely serious that the state’s administration should not get neglected because of her illness. The top administrative service officials of the state bureaucracy visit one of the floors in the hospital daily , to get a briefing on the day’s decisions. 

Amma was distracted in her last term , 2011 to 2016, by the burden of the wealth case against her, but now administration is getting top billing, we are told.

How long will Amma be in the hospital?

That is the million-dollar question. There is no answer yet.

It is all about retaining power. Who retains it after Jayalalithaa.

The AIADMK never believed in a second rung of leadership. MGR ran the party alone, just as Jayalalithaa did thereafter. By compulsion, the tradition has to be followed after her.

As of now, things – personal and professional – are happily under the control of Amma’s friend Sasikala.

There is no proof of this, other than reports that the brother of Amma and her foster son were not allowed to see her in the hospital.

This is what often happens when the rich and famous are transiting from life to death. The ventilator can become a convenient  tool to keep the person alive until the transfer of power is effected smoothly.  Do recall how another Tamil leader was a guest at the same hospital at the turn of the century. Murasoli Maran. In the case of Maran, he was alive thanks to artificial appendages for a long time; that was sufficient time for the family to get a sense of his affairs.

We are told Amma would be alive to ensure that her successor is found, selected and in place. But we do not know how much time this exercise will take. Names of successors – like O. Paneer Selvam or even film star Ajith! – are inconsequential, as long the fact is clear that the reins will remain with Sasikala.

If time is not a factor, then a decision may have to be taken on keeping Amma in the hospital for too long. She’d rather be back home, we are told.

What is in Sasikala’s mind? We have not been privy to that, as yet. Just like no one could read Jayalalithaa’s mind when MGR stopped breathing.

If there’s someone who is equally desperate to read Sasikala’s mind, it is the DMK patriarch Karunanidhi. A majority of AIADMK legislators crossing over to his camp for a consideration is an enticing dream. But he will not make a move now, because that would discredit him in the state where people will be quick to point out he was playing politics while Amma was helpless. The other political parties, including the BJP, do not matter.