Usurper or heir?ON THE various occasions that O. Panneerselvam, or “OPS”, served as the chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, he made a point of being invisible. He knew that Jayaram Jayalalithaa, the head of his party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and chief minister for most of the past 15 years, had chosen him as a stand-in whenever she was battling corruption charges or illness precisely because he was so self-effacing. Even after “Amma”—“Mother”—a former idol of the Tamil film industry, died in December, Mr Panneerselvam meekly agreed to step aside as chief minister in favour of V.K. Sasikala (pictured), a woman who has no political experience beyond having lived with Ms Jayalalithaa for the past 30 years, but is claiming her mantle.
On the night of February 7th, however, OPS embraced the sort of melodrama he has so long eschewed. Sitting cross-legged before a flower-strewn memorial to Jayalalithaa, he spent 40 minutes in silent meditation, as television crews assembled and news alerts set smartphones bleeping. At last he spoke—or rather, he declared, the...Continue reading
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