Justice Katju’s Candid Memoir: My Tryst with Jayalalitha — Two Meetings, Mutual Respect, and a Dream Years Later
THROUGHOUT MOST OF my life (I am in my 80th year now), I have had sound, dreamless sleep. But in recent months, I have often had dreams. And in a dream last night, I dreamt of a meeting I had with former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha.
I had met Jayalalitha personally only twice in my life.
First Meeting: Oath Ceremony, Discipline, and Respect
The first was in November 2004 in Raj Bhavan (the residence of the Governor of Tamil Nadu) in Chennai, where I went to take oath as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. My wife and I arrived at Raj Bhavan about 15 minutes before the oath-taking ceremony.
Jayalalithaa greets supporters with grace.
We were ushered into a small room adjacent to the huge hall where the ceremony was to take place. Shortly thereafter Jayalalitha entered the room, and we started talking.
I told her that I was in Allahabad (as the Acting Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court) when I received the notification appointing me as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
I immediately telephoned the Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Justice N. Dinkar, and requested him to tell all the brother and sister Judges of the Madras High Court not to come to the Chennai airport to receive me, since I was arriving at about 1 or 2 p.m. on a working day.
Justice Katju — candid and charismatic.
I said that it would create a bad impression among the public that judges were abandoning their work to indulge in sycophancy of the incoming Chief Justice.
Of course, they were all welcome to meet me at my residence in the evening.
On hearing this Jayalalitha was very happy, and said, “I am glad we are having a disciplinarian as our Chief Justice.” She then told my wife that there were excellent places in Chennai to do shopping.
After this short conversation, we left for the oath-taking ceremony. Thereafter I never met her throughout my tenure as the Chief Justice of the High Court.
Second Meeting: Governance, Judiciary, Hindi & Policy Sensitivity
Our second meeting was some time in 2012 or 2013 after I had retired as a Supreme Court Judge in 2011, and had become the Chairman of the Press Council of India.
This took place when I had fixed a meeting of the Press Council in Chennai. After reaching Chennai, I sought an appointment with her, which was granted, and I met her in her office in the Secretariat on the second floor.
Justice Katju’s formal meeting with Jayalalithaa.
She was seated behind a large desk, and I was requested to sit opposite her. No other politician was there, but beside the side wall there sat many senior bureaucrats — the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, etc. — to whom she introduced me.
She welcomed me, and I started our conversation by saying that I respected her because when I was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court and she was the Chief Minister, she never interfered with the functioning of the judiciary, and never asked me to recommend anyone for judgeship of the High Court.
I then gave her a representation requesting her to grant an allowance to retired judges of the Madras High Court for engaging a multi-purpose domestic employee, as their pensions were inadequate, particularly of those having short tenures as judges.
I told her that when I was the Acting Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court I made a similar request to the Chief Minister of UP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who immediately acceded to the request. Jayalalitha said she would certainly consider the request (later she granted it).
Jayalalithaa — strong, calm and confident.
I then said that I believed she knew Hindi. At this she smiled, and said “Thoda bahut jaanti hoon,” and started speaking fluent Hindi. I said that while I was strongly opposed to imposing Hindi, Tamilians should voluntarily learn it, as that would be in their own interest, since they would face great difficulties if they travelled to other parts of India outside Tamil Nadu.
She said that Tamilians were at one time indeed learning Hindi, but in the 1960s some short-sighted North Indian politicians tried to impose Hindi, and that created a reaction and they stopped learning it. I agreed with her that this was a serious mistake by the North Indian politicians.
That was the end of our conversation on a cordial note, and thereafter I never met her again.
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However, in lighter vein, I posted that in my youth I had a crush on her, as I thought her very beautiful, and this was widely published.
The Dream: A Personal, Emotional Reflection
Jayalalithaa’s timeless charm.
Now coming to my dream last night. I dreamt of meeting her somewhere.
She told me she was informed that I had a crush on her in my youth, and I told her that this was true.
Though I had never met her then, I saw her photos in several magazines and journals, and thought her very beautiful, and fell in love with her, though it was unrequited love. She said that if we had met then she too would have fallen in love with me.
I got so excited on hearing this that I woke up with a start, and that was the end of my tryst with Jayalalitha. 
_________
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Markandey Katju
Justice Markandey Katju is former Judge, Supreme Court of India and former Chairman, Press Council of India.
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