Mail Online India
27 September 2014

In a society submerged in corruption, a serving chief minister being stripped of her job for amassing wealth beyond her valid sources of income, brings a reassuring hope the law – despite being painfully slow – does apply to everyone.

Thanks to the court order, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha will be the first elected chief minister to lose her post, as a result of which, she will not be able to contest elections.

Jayalalitha now joins powerful politicians like Lalu Prasad and Om Prakash Chautala to be imprisoned in a corruption case after being convicted by court.

A former Haryana chief minister, Chautala was jailed in a teacher’s scam but his party – the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is one of the front runners in the upcoming elections in the state.

The same is the case with former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad whose political fortunes look on the upswing despite his conviction in a corruption case.

For politicians, the people’s court seems to be working in their favour even when the court of law goes against them.

Despite this shortcoming, a conviction in the court at least brings to halt the free run of politicians in taking the system for granted.

The conviction of Jayalalitha has thrown open a question about the acceptance of politicians facing corruption charges. Jayalalitha’s AIADMK swept the Lok Sabha elections held in May this year winning all the seats in Tamil Nadu.

With 37 MPs, AIADMK is the third biggest party in Lok Sabha. However, allegations of corruption are now catching up even with parties who have the popular mandate.

That should make the DMK – the rival party to Jayalalitha’s AIADMK – pause and think.

The DMK which has been celebrating her conviction must realise their track record is just as bad, with former Union ministers from their party at the Centre in the UPA government, continuing to face charges in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

As far as Jayalalitha is concerned this is not the end of the road for her. But it remains to be seen if she can resurrect her political fortunes by successfully challenging the lower court order.

Till that time, a jail term and Rs 100 crore fine and four-year jail term has brought a major turn not only in Tamil Nadu politics but also at the national level.