J. Jayalalithaa

Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2016, she was the 5th and longest-serving general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), a Dravidian party whose cadre revered her as their "Amma" (Mother) and "Puratchi Thalaivi" (Revolutionary leader). Jayalalithaa rose to prominence as a leading film actress in the mid-1960s. Though she had begun her acting career reluctantly at her mother's behest to support the family, Jayalalithaa was a prolific actor. She appeared in 140 films between 1961 and 1980, primarily in the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. Jayalalithaa received praise for her versatility as an actress and her dancing skills, earning the sobriquet "Queen of Tamil Cinema". Among her frequent co-stars was M. G. Ramachandran, popularly known as 'M.G.R.', a Tamil cultural icon who leveraged his immense popularity with the masses into a successful political career. In 1982, when M.G.R. was chief minister, Jayalalithaa joined the AIADMK, the party he founded. Her political rise was rapid; within a few years she became AIADMK propaganda secretary and was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament. After M.G.R.'s death in 1987, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself as his political heir and, having fought off the faction headed by M.G.R.'s widow, V. N. Janaki Ramachandran, emerged as the sole leader of the AIADMK. Following the 1989 election, she became Leader of the Opposition to the DMK-led government headed by M. Karunanidhi, her bête noire. In 1991, Jayalalithaa became chief minister for the first time and Tamil Nadu's youngest. She earned a reputation for centralising state power among a coterie of bureaucrats; her council of ministers, whom she often shuffled around, were largely ceremonial in nature. The successful cradle-baby scheme, which enabled mothers to anonymously offer their newborns for adoption, emerged during this time.