Today, As I woke up I saw that the news headlines was flooded with the sad and heartbreaking news of Tamil Nadu's chief minister Jayalalithaa's demise.
Having been a follower and fan of Amma, I would like to share a little about her transition from an actress to the Amma who we know her as today
The Amma we know today was fondly known as Ammu during her childhood days.
She was a young 2-year-old kid when her father passed away. To support the family, her mother started working in films and Jayalalithaa had to spend her childhood with her grandparents in Bangalore.
Growing up she was a diligent student who was fluent in Tamil,Telugu,Hindi, Malayalam, and English. Apart from her linguistic diversity, she was also trained in classical music, western classical piano, and various forms of classical dance like Mohiniattam, Manipuri, Kathak, and Bharatanatyam. While she was harboring dream of becoming a lawyer, she was forced to take up acting as a career from her teenage days itself. During her acting stint, she was introduced to politics by actor turned politician MG Ramachandran.
After his death, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself his heir and took it upon herself to carry forward his legacy.
Her rise as Amma began after she was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 1991.
During that period, Tamil Nadu was haunted by the rising problem of female foeticide and infanticide.
To fight aginst it, Jayalalithaa launched the famous'Thottil Kuzhandhai' or'The Cradle Baby Scheme' in 1992.
The initiative was a massive success and it garnered appreciated worldwide.It was single-handedly responsible for saving thousands of girls from the clutches of the dead and was adopted across Tamil Nadu.
The scheme developed an emotional connect between her and the people of the state. From then on, she was given the sobriquet Amma.
After 2011, she started to building her own brand Amma and launched brands like Amma Canteens, Amma Salt, Amma Pharmacy, Amma Cement, Amma drinking leveraging the name given to her by the people and strengthening the emotional connect even further
She has served as Tamil Nadu's CM thrice — from 1991 to 1996, 2001 to 2006, and 2011 to 2016.
As we mourn the sad demise today, her name will forever be etched in our memory as Amma.
Born as Sandhya's daughter, she left as India’s mother
