What Jayalalitha’s Conviction Can Mean

J Jayalalitha is doubtlessly one of the most powerful politicians in India. This was proved by her jaw-droppingly stupendous performance in the General Elections of 2014. Jayalalitha’s AIADMK, a local Tamilnadu party ended up the third largest vote-getter – just seven seats less than Congress which had formed the government for a decade before the elections.

J Jayalalitha is also rumoured to be amongst the most corrupt politicians in the country. This has been proved by the long-standing charges and cases she has had in the courts of the country. In the past she has even lost Assembly Elections because of the rumours of her devastating corruption.

Now there is no doubt that the rumours were true. She was convicted by a High Court in Bangalore. Her bail application was also rejected. Next step: a re-appeal in the Supreme Court.

 

Jayalalitha is possibly the second prominent politician to be convicted while she was in office. When the judgement of her conviction came, Jayalalitha was the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu. The first, of course, was Indira Gandhi who was found guilty while she was the Prime Minister of the country. This was 39 to 40 years ago. In a drastic reaction to the judgement against her, Indira Gandhi declared Emergency, often referred to the darkest period of post-Independence India.

This judgement against a politician in power, an incumbent Chief Minister no less, brings a ray of hope for a nation beleaguered by corrupt politicians beggaring the people. The last decade was a decade of scams. A decade when everyone in politics grew rich while inflation sky-rocketed and people became poorer.

If the judgement is upheld by the Supreme Court, it can mean that the other looters of the nation can also be brought to book. It can go a very, very long way in decreasing (if not totally rooting out) the greatest malaise that India suffers from: corruption. If this judgement is upheld by the Supreme Court, it can mean the return of the missing billions of dollars back into the country and the conviction of the thieves. If this conviction is upheld by the Supreme Court, it can mean a resurgence of the sadly eroded and depleted democratic rights of the people in the world’s largest democracy. If this conviction is upheld by the Supreme Court, it can establish the independence of the judiciary from the deathly strangle of the Legislature that is in.