Large crowd attends Jayalalithaa’s funeral

The funeral rites of the late chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa Jayaraman, was held in the presence of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Modi, General Secretary of Congress Rahul Gandhi, MPS and hundreds of thousands of mourners near Marina Beach in Chennai yesterday.

The remains of Jayalalithaa were taken in a glass casket in a procession from Rajaji Hall to the burial site. As the procession carrying her remains wended its way through the large crowds, most of them cried and lamented and, in the crush, many had fallen unconscious and been warded at hospitals.

Jayalalithaa passed away after being warded at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai for 75 days.

She had held the post of chief minister four times. Before she entered politics she was a Tamil actress in the 1960s and 1970s. She entered politics through the intervention of the actor M. G. Ramachandran.

When the remains were at Rajaji Hall, the police and army had encountered much difficulty in controlling the large crowds that came to pay their last respects. Premier Narendra Modi had arrived on a special flight to Chennai to pay his last respects to the dead leader.

In his message, Premier Modi had said that, with the passing away of Jayalalithaa, a great vacuum had been created in the political arena of Tamil Nadu. (NDTV, Chennai)