Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the powerful four-term leader of one of India’s largest states, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, died on Dec 5, 2016 in a Chennai hospital at the age of 68. She left millions of Tamils -- who called her Amma -- in mourning.

Before we talk about this amazing woman, for the Pakistani readers there is a brief background about south India and Tamil politics. Tamil Nadu is one of the 29 states (provinces) in India, currently boasting a population of around 80 million people. It was called Madras till 1969 when the vocal Tamil and Dravidian nationalist chief minister, Annadurai, of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party renamed it as Tamil Nadu.

At the time of independence in 1947, Madras occupied large swathes of south India but when the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, reorganised states in India on linguistic basis, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada speaking areas were given to the states of Andhra, Karnataka, and Kerala.

Tamil people were probably the first who objected to the three-language policy of the central government of India. Per this policy, all schools in India were supposed to teach at least three languages to students: English, Hindi, and a local language. Tamil leaders led by Annadurai protested this policy and the central government had to give in by not insisting on Hindi.

The last governor-general of India -- and the only Indian to hold this post -- Rajagopalachari, was a Tamil who remained loyal to the Indian National Congress (INC) till the late 1950s. After the death of Jawahar Lal Nehru he, along with Annadurai, played an instrumental role in uniting various Tamil factions into a united political force and the INC was defeated in Madras for the first time in 30 years. Annadurai became the first non-INC chief minister in Madras, later named as Tamil Nadu.

Anna was probably the first politician in India who came from an acting-writing background and became the chief minister of a major state. He attracted many other actors and writers to politics in Tamil Nadu. The most prominent of them were Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran, Janaki, and of course Jayalalithaa -- all of whom became chief ministers of Tamil Nadu. The death of Annadurai in 1969 left the vacuum to be filled by Karunanidhi first, and then by his associate-turned-foe MG Ramachandran (MGR) who added glamour to the Dravidian movement sweeping Tamil Nadu.

From 1965 to 1975, MGR had acted with his 30-year junior, Jayalalithaa, in 28 movies and all of them were box office hits. When MGR joined politics, Jayalalithaa followed him. When Karunanidhi expelled MGR from DMK, he floated his new party called Anna DMK or ADMK. Jayalalithaa became its propaganda secretary. When MGR died in 1987 at the age of 70, after remaining the CM of Tamil Nadu for more than 10 years, his party ADMK split into two factions -- one led by his widow Janaki and the other led by his younger female lead in films, Jayalalithaa. Janaki became the new CM but survived for only three weeks, followed by a president’s rule for a year.

When the next elections were held in 1989, Karunanidhi won the elections and became the CM but after just two years another president’s rule was imposed and new elections were held in 1991, bringing Jayalalithaa to power for the first time.

She had been a member of Rajya Sabha (Upper House), was fluent in at least four major languages of south India, in addition to English and Hindi, and had a commanding personality that enabled her to complete her five-year term from 1991 to 1996. Allegations of massive corruption marred her first tenure -- especially when she spent extravagantly on her adopted son’s wedding in 1995.

This filthy display of wealth -- amounting to an alleged amount of a billion rupees -- angered the poor who ousted her in the next elections and once again Karunanidhi won to become CM in 1996.

Karunanidhi initiated corruption cases against her and she was hounded for five years. In the next elections in 2001, ADMK romped to power again and Jayalalithaa became the CM for the second time, only to be removed with a court order just after 130 days in office. Since, she was yet to clear herself of a land-deal conviction, she could not contest in the 2001 elections.

She became the CM for anybody could be elected by the largest seat-holding party to be their leader provided they contest an election within six months. In the six-month interregnum, she ruled with proxy CM, Panneerselvam. She took the oath to be the CM for the third time in March 2002, and completed her term in 2006. Once again Karunanidhi won and remained CM till 2011. In May 2011, Jayalalithaa became the CM for the fourth time after winning the state elections. But in September 2014, she became the first incumbent chief minister to lose her post in a graft case.

The court sentenced her to four years of prison term but the sentence was subsequently overturned by the Karnataka High Court which acquitted Jayalalithaa of all charges allowing her to return to the post. She won the next election in 2015 too and remained CM till her death. So if we add all her tenures, she remained the CM of Tamil Nadu for almost 15 years in all, second only to the record-holder Karunanidhi who has occupied the CM post for 18 years in multiple terms. So how do we judge her entire career both in films and in politics?

Corruption cases against her could not hamper her progress; she initiated many welfare programmes for the public but all had her personality cult stamped on them, from Amma Baby Care kits and Amma People’s Service Centres to Amma Laptops and Amma Grinders. Despite her easy-to-love personality -- watch her interviews with Simi Grewal on YouTube -- she encouraged ugly manifestation of sycophancy and flattery, encouraged her followers including senior party leaders prostrating in front of her. Her policies were populist, spending mammoth amounts on subsidies and free household items -- but still in the last 25 years Tamil Nadu’s economy has expanded at around seven per cent per year.

Now Amma is gone, but her personality cult is expected to grow as her proxy, Panneerselvam, has assumed the reins of power in Tamil Nadu. He is likely to install her statues around the state and capitalise on her legacy, as Jayalalithaa herself did with the legacy of her mentor, MGR.

She remained unmarried but spent fortunes on her adopted son’s marriage, then expelled him from her party and home. Such were the whims of Amma, who is likely to become a cult figure thanks to her charisma and aplomb.