The whole nation is mourning the demise of one of the most loved Indian politicians, J Jayalalithaa, but it will take a long time for the public of Tamil Nadu to make peace with the fact that they have lost their Amma. She was not just a chief minister or politician for them; she was their mother who was always there to help them whenever they needed.
Jayalalithaa took her last breath on Dec 5, at 11:30 pm at the age of 68 and she has been buried next to her mentor MGR. Her funeral was attended by PM Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and chief ministers of eight states.
Social media networks are flooded with messages about Jayalalithaa and people who have got the chance to interact with the revolutionary leader are also sharing their experiences. One such experience has been shared by Prem Panicker, the former managing editor of Yahoo India, and this story gives us an insight on what type of administrator she was.
This incident was witnessed by Prem’s uncle, who was deputy head of Public Works Department in TN. It took place when Amma had just completed couple of weeks of her first term as CM. PWD needed approval from CM for a new project but Jayalalithaa ripped off the previous projects which were done by the department and asked for an explanation as to why they had not been carried out properly. She said this before ending the meeting, “Bring me the person responsible for this mess, then I’ll consider the new proposals”.
Later when Prem was doing a story on corruption in politics, his uncle brought up this matter and said “But she knew her stuff.”
Take a look at the tweets:
My uncle, now no more, had a JJ story. He was then deputy head of the PWD. She was two weeks into her first term. The PWD sought a meeting +
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) December 5, 2016
To get her approval for a scheme to create new catchment areas to ease the water problem. JJ heard them out. Then, without notes, she ++
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) December 5, 2016
+reeled off the list of such projects sanctioned, and badly implemented, over the preceding five years. “Bring me the person responsible +
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) December 5, 2016
+ for this mess, then I’ll consider the new proposals,“ she told them. Uncle remembers his boss sweating profusely as he stumbled out.
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) December 5, 2016
years later when I was doing a corruption story, uncle brought this up. “Everyone is corrupt,” he said. “But this one? She knows her stuff”
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) December 5, 2016
What a great leader Amma was!
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