Thousands of supporters streamed into the sprawling campus of the Government Estate, where the body of J Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, lay in state.
Jayalalithaa passed away on Monday night following a cardiac arrest the previous day at Apollo Hospital where she had been under treatment since September 22.
After traditional rituals at her residence in Poes Garden, her body was taken to Rajaji Hall within the Government Estate premises early today morning for the public to pay homage. In contrast to the deserted streets of Chennai elsewhere, the multilane, arterial Anna Salai was choked with thousands of mourners, ardent supporters of the AIADMK, the ruling party of which Jayalalithaa had been unchallenged General Secretary since 1989.
Despite the huge turnout the entire proceedings went off peacefully without any disturbances.
‘ Amma (mother) or ‘ Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader) as Jayalalithaa was always referred to by her supporters commanded as much adulation in death as in life. “Let me get one glimpse of her,” begged a 70-year-old woman as she was pushed aside by a surging crowd of mourners. A row of women police elbowed their way through the crowd, “we have been at the back controlling the crowd, we now want to see her for one last time,” explained one of them as they joined the mass of people surging past the body of the leader. Jayalalithaa lay in state on top of the stairs leading to the two century old Rajaji Hall with its majestic colonnades. On the wide gallery-like stairs, sat AIADMK MLAs and Cabinet Ministers, her confidante and associate of more than three decades, Sasikala Natarajan, stood by the side along with her with relatives and husband Natarajan.
O Panneerselvam, who was sworn in as Chief Minister along with a 31-member Cabinet in the middle of last night within a couple of hours of the formal announcement of the death of Jayalalithaa, stood off to one side.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arrived around 12.30 pm, paid his respects and exchanged a few words with Sasikala before taking a few steps down to talk to the Cabinet Ministers and MLAs. He then waved to the crowds before exiting the venue.
The President Pranab Mukherjee, and Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nirmala Sitharaman were also among those who paid homage.
Industrialists Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motors; Mallika Srinivasan, Chairman and CEO, TAFE; C Sivasankaran, Chairman, Siva Group also paid their respects.
Film industryThe Tamil film industry was present in strength. To the members of the entertainment industry Jayalalithaa is a senior. She was a leading star of the Tamil film industry between 1965 and 1980. Superstar Rajinikant; singer P Suseelah; Vishal and Vijayakumar and a number of actors, directors and producers paid their respects.
At 4.30 pm, the mortal remains of the AIADMK supremo was taken in a procession to Marina Beach and buried with State Honours within the precincts of the memorial of her political mentor and founder of the AIADMK, MG Ramachandran. Her body was placed in a sandalwood casket and lowered into the grave.