Toronto's Tamil community is mourning the death of a beloved and colourful titan of Indian politics.
Jayalalithaa Jayaram — known to her supporters as 'Amma,' or mother — was chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 68-year-old died on Monday after a heart attack.
Tamil Nadu is the ancestral home for some 300,000 Tamils living in Canada, many of whom remember Jayalalithaa as an inspiration to women and champion of the poor.
"I would describe her as the personification of a brilliant mind, a woman of strength and resilience," said Gita Shankaran, a founder of Toronto's Madras Arts and Cultural Association.
Shankaran says she was inspired by Jayalalithaa's success in India's male-dominated political system, where she led a state of 71 million people for nearly 14 years.
"As a woman, I look up to her with great encouragement and motivation," said Raveena Rajasingham, a director with the Canadian Tamil Congress.
She called Jayalalithaa "a great role model … a woman with a lot of power, a woman who could achieve what she had in her mind."
Jayalalithaa first entered the public eye as a 13-year-old actress in the Tamil film industry. She became well known as a romantic lead later in her career and made the switch to politics in the early 1980s.
By 1991, she was Tamil Nadu's chief minister, a position she held on five occasions, including at the time of her death, following a clearance on corruption charges by an Indian court.
During her time in office, Jayalalithaa was known for her handouts to the poor, which included laptops, household goods and food, some of which were branded with her nickname, Amma.
"And that is how the poor of today see her, as Amma, as their mother," Gita Shankaran explained.
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands filled the streets of Chennai, where Jayalalithaa's body was displayed on the steps of a public hall, draped in the Indian flag.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed a wreath on the body, and said her death left a "huge void in Indian politics."
Toronto-based Tamil radio broadcaster Ragavan Paranchothy says there has been ongoing discussion within his community since Jayalalithaa first became ill in September.
He says Tamils from Sri Lanka remember her less favourably than their Indian counterparts, due mostly to her actions during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
"She wasn't very supportive of the liberation struggle of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka," Paranchothy said, adding that Sri Lankan Tamil refugees fleeing for India were treated "in a not-so-great way."
He credits Jayalalithaa for supporting war-crime investigations following the war and says those efforts have healed some wounds within the Sri Lankan Tamil community.
Others say her branded handouts were, in part, an effort to establish a cult of personality.
"She has many critics," said Shankaran. "But I think when you take the whole picture and when you weigh what she did for the people, I think the people were willing to accept it."
Toronto's Tamil community says it is planning a public vigil, but it has not yet determined a time or location.
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