Jayalalithaa’s love for wildlife, flora and fauna

“Both were not true,” claimed an officer who was there when the incidents took place. According to the officer July 30, 2013, was a day to remember for the Chief Minister as she enjoyed it like a child. “She had a joyous smile on her face as she spent nearly three hours in and around the captive elephant camp at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve,” he said. 

He recalled that the police and the forest department officers warned her not to go to the camp and safari over security concerns and due to poor roads. “Forest roads will be like that,” the officer who accompanied her in the safari said. She also fed a few captive elephants in the elephant camp that day. 

 Regarding the incident involving Cauvery the calf that was two-years-old at that time, the officer said that the calf was separated from the herd and was in the camp. “The Chief Minister fed her with a jaggery ball and the calf playfully rubbed its trunk on Jayalalithaa’s face. The CM took it sportively with a smile and caressed the calf’s face. Then she gave another jaggery ball to the calf,” he said. 

The officer said that when Jayalalithaa was about to leave the calf tried to play with her but it ended with a push that evoked the controversy, though the Chief Minister herself took it lightly. “What will a dog do to show its affection? The calf was a bigger animal but a child at heart. A year later it died naturally as it was ailing from internal ailments. But it was again blown out of proportion,” he added. 

2005 was the centenary year of the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam. To commemorate it, a 10 acre rose garden was established in the garden and inaugurated by Jayalalithaa. It was named as Jayalalithaa Rose Garden. When DMK came to power the next year it was renamed as Century Rose Park and later as the Government Rose Garden. 

The garden won the Garden of Excellence award in 2006 from the World Rose Federation at an event in Japan. Despite coming back to power in 2011, the park was not renamed. A new hybrid Crimson Red rose variety named as ‘Jayalalithaa Rose’ that was planted 11 years ago still blooms here.