On a sweltering summer morning in 2016, D. Pandiamall, a 52 year old money lender and political activist is sitting in the entrance hall of her huge family home in a suburb of Madurai. The room is bare but for images of Jayalalithaa Jayaram, a former movie actress who has just been declared Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time. Thousands of Jayalalithaa’s followers, well known for their absolute devotion, have had her face tattooed on their forearms in mass ceremonies designed to consolidate a very Indian type of personality cult.
D. Pandiamall juggles two smart phones, calling her party faithful. “I am the 13th ward counsellor of the AIADMK in Madurai. Our members will show you just how dedicated we are to the cause.”
Jayalalithaa led the AIADMK (translated as All India Anna Dravidian Progress Federation) from 1989 until 2016 and became incredibly popular with women. But the strong woman who broke the glass ceiling also spent years in court fighting allegations of corruption. Yet Jayalalithaa continued to receive unconditional support from her followers, some of whom are known to literally walk across burning coals for their party boss, drawing her portrait with their blood and having her face tattooed on their arms.
Soon D. Pandiamall is joined by three card-carrying party members. Panneer Selram, 62, Radha Krishnan, 49, and M.A. Pandi, 47 claim they are ready to lay down their lives for Jayalalithaa. All three men have their leader’s portrait and the party’s emblem tattooed on their arms. Selram also wears a tattoo of the face of M. G. Ramachandran, known as MGR, another Tamil movie star turned chief minister. Proudly showing off his faded tattoos, he remembers getting inked in 1977. “MGR wanted to test our loyalty. He wanted to show our rivals just how determined his followers were. I had his portrait applied during the first party's mass tattoo ceremony. »
MGR encouraged many more of his followers to get tattooed. Soon after his death in 1987, Jayalalithaa took over both the party and MGR’s tattoo tradition. On her 68th birthday in February 2016, a thousand volunteers simultaneously had her face tattooed on their forearms. Selram adds, “We are ready to face anything for her,” as he flashes two large rings bearing the image of the chief minister. Selram’s statement is anything but glib. Following news of Jayalalithaa‘s death on December 5th and the state’s political future in limbo, some of her most devoted followers committed suicide. Text and photos : Laure Siegel & Tom Vater
