The J-word for Jaya

The J-word for Jaya

Conviction in a corruption case is no longer a new experience for AIADMK chief Jayalalitha Jayaram. It was in February this year that she was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment in the `Pleasant Stay' hotel case. This time, the punishment awarded to her, her woman Friday, Sasikala Natarajan, and four others, including a former minister, has the potential to finish her politically. If the High Court on appeal suspends the operation of her sentence, she can contest the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections due early next year. The provision of the Representation of People's Act, which prevents people who have been sentenced for more than two years from contesting elections for at least six years, will come into force only when the final appellate decision goes against her. But Monday's judgement is bound to cast a shadow on her political ability to make a comeback. In effect, the verdict removes from the political scene a potential challenger to the DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi in thenext elections. For a party that revolves around one leader's political ambition, this is a major setback. Needless to say, her inability to lead the party from the front will have a debilitating effect on the AIADMK and its allies. With verdicts in two more cases -- the one relating to her disproportionate wealth and the other pertaining to the coal import deal of 1993 -- keenly awaited, Monday's judgment is unlikely to see the end of the judicial troubles the former chief minister faces.

However, few will shed tears for the AIADMK supremo, who had all along claimed, falsely as it turns out, that the cases were fraudulent and politically motivated. In fact, her conviction will doubtlessly be seen as a triumph of the judicial system. A former prime minister was convicted a few days ago, and now a former chief minister yet again. But, unlike in the JMM case where P.V. Narasimha Rao was found guilty of masterminding an unholy financial deal to save his ministry, in the Tansi case, Jayalalitha was found guilty of cheating the government of a huge sum of money to serve the interests of Jayalalitha-Sasikala's own Jaya Publications. How a chief minister of a state could stoop to such a low level for self-aggrandisement is beyond comprehension, but that is exactly what happened in the Tansi case.

It took five long years for this case, which began with Janata Party's Subramaniam Swamy obtaining sanction from then Governor Chenna Reddy to prosecute Jayalalitha, to yield a judgement. The delay does not do the reputation of the country's judicial system any good. After all, if the DMK government had not constituted a special court to hear the case expeditiously, it would have taken even longer. Small wonder then that the belief that the high and the mighty can escape punishment for their wrong doing still persists. So far, in corruption cases, it is only the small fry who get punished. Convictions of people like Jayalalitha and former Kerala minister R. Balakrishna Pillai will send out the right signal that no matter how mighty a person may be, nobody is above the law. If this impression is allowed to gain ground, it will go a long way in the fight against corruption.