Special Articles

#StalinTheLiar?: Here’s The Evidence Of Jayalalithaa Being Abused And Physically Assaulted By DMK Members

August 13, 2023
The Commune

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her speech in the Lok Sabha on the opposition’s no-confidence motion against the central government, highlighted a historical incident involving the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa.

Responding to Thoothukudi DMK MP Kanimozhi who had invoked Draupadi’s disrobing episode in Mahabharata during her speech on Manipur incident, Nirmala Sitharaman drew her attention to the particular event from March 25, 1989, that occurred in the Tamil Nadu assembly when Jayalalithaa was the Leader of the Opposition. Nirmala Sitharaman recounted how Jayalalithaa’s was heckled and her saree pulled in the Assembly, an act carried out by DMK members who were present.

This humiliating incident became a watershed moment in Jayalalithaa’s political career as she swore to set foot to the Assembly only as Chief Minister, which she did in the very next election.

“I agree that women suffering anywhere – Manipur, Delhi, Rajasthan – will have to be taken seriously. No politics played. But I want to remind this entire House of one incident which happened on 25th March 1989 in the Tamil Nadu assembly. Then she hadn’t become chief minister Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled in Tamil Nadu in the assembly. She was the leader of opposition. The DMK members who were seated there, heckled her and laughed at her… Has the DMK forgotten Jayalalithaa? You pulled her saree, you demeaned her. That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she will never come to the House unless she becomes the CM. Two years later, she returned as the CM of Tamil Nadu…, Nirmala Sitharaman said in her speech.

However, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in an interview to Hindustan Times had denied that such an incident had happened and called it a “drama” enacted by Jayalalithaa. He even derogated the Union Finance Minister of speaking based on “WhatsApp history”.

“Nirmala Sitharaman reads some WhatsApp history and speaks. Such an incident did not happen to Jayalalithaa in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Everyone present at that time knew that it was a “drama” she was enacting. Former Minister Thirunavakarasu (currently Congress MP from Trichy) spoke in the Assembly saying that Jayalalithaa had rehearsed in her Poes Garden house earlier that this should be done in the Assembly, and that he himself was present at that time.  It is regrettable that Nirmala Sitharaman spoke in the Parliament by misrepresenting the proceedings of the Tamil Nadu Assembly and misleading the House.”, Stalin said.

The truth however is far from what Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin claims.

Evidence of DMK MLAs Abusing And Molesting Jayalalithaa 

On March 25, 1989, the Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed a shameful episode when Duraimurugan who was then a Minister in the Karunanidhi government assaulted Jaylalithaa and pulled her saree.

She was physically attacked by DMK MLAs as she made her way out of the House. Karunanidhi, then the chief minister, reportedly threw expletives at her after she called him a criminal in Tamil.

Jayalalithaa herself in an interview with Simi Garewal had said “Nothing really was worth the humiliation I suffered when I was attacked in the Assembly on the floor of the Legislative Assembly on March 25, 1989 in the presence of the Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi with both his wives watching from the VIP boxes. All his MLAs and Ministers physically assaulted me. They grabbed anything they could lay their hands upon. Chairs, mics, a heavy brass bell on the Speaker’s table. If they had succeeded in banging it on my head, I wouldn’t be alive today. My MLAs saved me that day. And one of them even pulled at my saree. They pulled at my hair. In fact they tore our some of my hair. They threw chappals at me. They threw big bundles of papers, heavy books at me. That day, I left the Assembly in tears. But I was also angry. I made a vow that day. I said I will never set foot in this Assembly again as long as this man continues to be Chief Minister and when I do enter this Assembly again I will enter as Chief Minister. And I fulfilled my vow.”

There are even pictures of the incident in which Jayalalithaa can be seen clutching her saree tight and holding her mangled hair.

A Tamil Nadu journalist Durai Kanna had witnessed the scenes unfold and testifies the same in an interview. He reveals that Karunanidhi turned the mic towards him and hurled an expletive at Jayalalithaa saying “Yen di ragala panna vandhiya? (Hey you woman, you came to create ruckus is it?”

When Jayalalithaa raised slogans “Nyayam vendum (I need justice)”, Karunanidhi apparently gave her a sexist reply saying “Hey you woman? You want justice is it? Go ask Shoban Babu, Go ask Jaishankar”.

One TK Palanisamy, the then Thiruvottriyur DMK MLA apparently stood on the table and kicked Jayalalithaa on her shoulder and raised his hand to hit her, he says.

I. Periyasamy (currently a Minister in MK Stalin’s cabinet) who was seated in the last rows came hopping tables, stood on one of the tables at the centre, lifted his dhoti up and gave one kick to Jayalalithaa on her shoulder, Durai Kanna reveals. This made Jayalalithaa fall back on a chair.

Other DMK members who attacked Jayalalithaa was Kovai Kannappan alias ‘Car Oti’ Kannappan, who earned the moniker from being Karunanidhi’s car driver.

Veerapandiya Arumugam was the DMK man who pulled Jayalaithaa’s hair thinking it was wig.

He also goes on to elaborate how Budget books were thrown at Jayalalithaa by DMK MLAs.

It was Pon Muthuramalingam, a DMK Minister who tried to hit Jayalalithaa with a brass bell which she mentions in her interview with Simi Garewal.

Incumbent DMK Minister Duraimurugan, who was also a Minister in Karunanidhi government then, went towards Jayalalithaa and pulled her saree. When GK Moopanaar and Kumari Ananthan (father of Tamilisai Soundarrajan), tried to prevent Duraimurugan, the latter allegedly abused Moopanaar for coming in support of Jayalalithaa. After this episode, Duraimurugan came to be regarded as the Dushasana of Tamil Nadu politics.

AIADMK, BJP, AMMK Condemn Stalin

Leader of Opposition and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami condemned Stalin’s denial of the horrific incident asserted that Jayalalithaa was attacked by DMK members.

He said that he himself was testimony to what had happened as he was there in the House on that fateful day as an AIADMK MLA.

”Amma (Jayalalithaa) was Leader of Opposition then. I had the opportunity of working with her as MLA then as I was elected from Edappadi. I was in the House then. As someone who saw it I am saying this — in that House, in the presence of then CM Karunanidhi, despite being a woman, a brutal attack was launched on her,” he stated adding that the attack on Jayalalithaa was a planned one.

“It has been reported in detail. It happened in Karunanidhi’s presence. DMK Ministers and MLAs badly attacked Amma… a now senior minister pulled her saree, another (then) minister pulled her hair…. it was a dark day,” he added.

“I can still recall. I was in the House. Such events were unprecedented in the history of the house; a very bad day in the history of the assembly. No women member or LoP had faced such a situation. But today’s CM (Stalin) is demeaning that. Everything had been reported in the press and media,” Palaniswami added.

BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai sharing Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech chastised the DMK for its treatment of women.

TTV Dhinakaran, the head of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, said that “all the people of Tamil Nadu know how the DMK treated Puratchi Thalaivi Amma in the Tamilnadu Assembly on March 25, 1989!”

He also made a scathing attack on MK Stalin saying that he was wantonly distorting history.

“It is unbecoming of the Chief Minister for Stalin to speak like this while forgetting the news and photographs that have appeared in the dailies and weeklies of the day of that terrible incident in 1989 which took place.”, he said.