Jayaram returned to India and worked with government schoolchildren in Krishnagiri, took up farming on a piece of land in Kancheepuram and taught math to slum children. He also connected with other activists across India through his travels to Sewagram.
Appearing before the Chennai police commissioner has become routine for social activist and convenor of anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam Jayaram Venkatesan. Most of these turned out to be false cases.
After two jail visits, exposing corruption by top ministers and bureaucrats, the 40-year-old says he has learned to take it all in his stride, except for an inquiry by a woman police personnel of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in 2019.
The policewoman asked Jayaram which school his child went to.
Though the interrogator was apologetic, Jayaram says he was livid as it was an attempt to silence him with a veiled threat to his family. “You are also a parent. Do you know what that question means,” Jayaram recalls asking the cop. It was obvious she was asking the question at the behest of her superiors who were under pressure from ministers,” says Jayaram.
Given Arappor and Jayaram’s track record, it might not be implausible. Throughout the second term of AIADMK government (2016-2021), all top ministers such as chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, deputy chief minister O Pannerselvam and S P Velumani, who many referred to as the most powerful minister in the cabinet, had to answer questions on alleged corruption in their departments raked up by Arappor.
In some cases, their denial appeared feeble as Jayaram released documents supplied by whistleblowers or those collected through the RTI Act. This meant frequent police visits to Arappor’s erstwhile office in Egmore, denial of permission for peaceful demonstrations, multitude of cases and stormy exchanges with IPS and IAS officials.
People who know Jayaram vouch for his commitment “He has sacrificed a lot. I have not met anybody in activism like him. He is very hardworking and will put up a fight till the end,” says V Sandhya, an advocate who has worked with Jayaram in the Aam Admi Party (AAP).
Rewind 19 years to the summer of 2002, Jayaram was a quintessential 21-year-old electrical engineer from Chennai who harboured dreams of making it big in the Silicon Valley. By 2007, Jayaram decided to return home to work in the education and agriculture sector.
Tamil Nadu’s corrupt bureaucrats would have breathed a lot easier, if not for the Bhopal gas tragedy and a man called Karthik. In early 2003, Karthik, Jayaram’s roommate in the US, was part of a community service group organising lectures from Indian social activists. He managed to coax a studious Jayaram, with an offer of free dinner, to one such meeting by Rashida B and Champadevi where they spoke about the suffering of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy.
“That evening changed my life. I was shocked about my ignorance of the issues affecting people, and this triggered a guilt which made me question my priorities. I decided that I could make a difference either by sending money home or returning to work in that sector,” says Jayaram. He immersed himself in the works of P Sainath, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz to get a better understanding of the ground realities.
Jayaram returned to India and worked with government schoolchildren in Krishnagiri, took up farming on a piece of land in Kancheepuram and taught math to slum children. He also connected with other activists across India through his travels to Sewagram.
In 2012, his report on farm suicides in TN got chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s attention. “I wasn’t this confrontational and was surprised by the impact,” he says.
Right from the start, Jayaram has been clear about his decision to not contest elections.
“I focus on the outcomes of government schemes. At the grassroots I could see how corruption affected this,” he says. This influenced his decision to join the AAP in 2014 and he even went to jail a year later with 49 others as they marched into chief minister O Pannerselvam’s house on the issue of agriculture officer Muthukumaraswamy’s suicide, which was linked to a cash-for-posts scam. “Jail was fun due to the interactions. Also I lost 3-4kg,” Jayaram says.
After the AAP’s ideological shift, Jayaram quit and formed Arappor with a few like-minded colleagues. With a focus on urban issues like water logging in 2015 floods, encroachment of water bodies and the banner culture, Arappor was able to capture the imagination of the middle and upper-middle class in Chennai.
Multitude of exposes, campaigns and public jousts over urban issues later, Jayaram got the government’s goat around 18 months after Jayalalithaa’s death. Whistleblowers began to release information on massive tender-fixing in Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Coimbatore Corporation. These were pre-fixed so that only a cartel of contractors linked to Velumani won, Arappor alleged.
Later, similar exposes in the electricity ministry and civil supplies were released. Along with ministerial denials, came defamation cases and ‘foisted’ police cases, with the NGO’s treasurer being arrested at 4am. Tangedco and GCC officials made a ‘routine’ check at Jayaram’s residence on a complaint alleging irregularities. Nothing came of it, but the message was clear: Shut up or face trouble. This led to allegations from the AIADMK supporters on social media labelling Jayaram a ‘DMK stooge’.
But when Kanimozhi and A Raja were acquitted in the 2G spectrum case, Jayaram spoke about how evidence had been ignored by the court. “I have also spoken about the BSNL case where DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran was accused,” he says.
After the DMK took the over state’s reins this May, GCC has cancelled tenders worth several hundred crores of rupees alleging irregularities. This has vindicated Jayaram’s stand and his submission to the GCC on transparency and other reforms were accepted.
When quizzed, Jayaram says his ideological commitment is to the Constitution of India. “TN has a poor movement-based approach. Awareness among people is low. We want to create a vibrant civil society,” says Jayaram, who believes a citizen’s movement is more effective in bringing change as compared to an opposition MLA. (Time of India)
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