Tamil Nadu’s age-old talent for mixing drama with politics was on full display on Tuesday in the aftermath of a Bangalore court’s decision to convict and fine ex-Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a corruption case.

As television reports that the Karnataka High Court had given Jayalalithaa bail changed to news flashes that bail had actually been denied, Amma’s supporters had ample opportunity to express their feelings in cinematic style.

Shots of men and women hysterically crying right after verdict were not hard to come by. Men tonsured their heads, women insisted they would only eat their food straight off the ground and the replacement chief minister, as well as his cabinet, were suitably abject.


AIADMK supporters (Strdel/AFP)









Tamil Nadu’s creative billboard-making community got into the act. Posters insisted that Amma is no less than god and banners asked Karnataka to keep the Kaveri river but return Jayalalithaa. One billboard even threatened to hold Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu hostage until Amma had been allowed to go back.










Tuesday was a day of swings for Jayalalithaa’s supporters and members of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. To begin with, there was rejoicing as news flashes suggested that the ex-CM had been given bail. All the celebratory paraphernalia came out: laddoos, halwa and general merriment.














But the mood quickly turned to depression, after it emerged that an AIADMK leader had emerged from the packed court with the wrong information. Laddoo baskets and firecrackers were returned to AIADMK offices everywhere, with the histrionics being turned back on.




With Jayalalithaa still in jail, anger at Karnataka and the potential to make news in Delhi with a Supreme Court bail application, you can be certain that at least the billboard makers won't be out of a job anytime soon.