05th December, 2016 is a day which Tamils in general and AIADMK cadres in particular won’t forget in a hurry: it was the day when their all-powerful and beloved ‘Puratchithalaivi’ J. Jayalalithaa, the irrepressible permanent general secretary of the party, was declared ‘dead’ by Apollo Hospitals, Chennai after the ‘iron lady’ spent 75 days at the Hospital.

Jayalalithaa, despite the many corruption charges leveled against her, has always been seen as an ‘invincible woman’ by her opponents, close friends and relatives and party cadres. She had kept the party under her full control for more than two-and-a-half-decades after she managed to merge the two factions of the AIADMK which split into two in the aftermath of the demise of its founder-president MGR in 1987.

Her attitude in opposing/supporting any project/proposal the Centre put forward gave jitters to the rulers as they knew that the proposal would die a sudden death if she opposed it and would flourish like anything if she liked it. Though a regional leader, Jayalalithaa was a multi-lingual laureate, a fluent and attractive orator in many languages including Hindi, thus impressing even her hard-core critics and enemies.

With a motherly affection, she put in place many developmental schemes for the welfare of the people with the ever-popular slogan ‘Makkalaal Naan; Makkalukkagave Naan’ (“I’m by the people and for the people”). Despite criticism, the ‘iron lady’ of Tamil Nadu would always be remembered for the bold manner and courageous behavior which she displayed all along her life!