Districts yet to come out of shock and sorrow

Following the death of Jayalalithaa, a pall of gloom descended over the state and all activities came to a standstill. The party cadre and public mourned her death in a peaceful manner across the state on Tuesday. Very few incidents of violence were reported in the state. All the shops were shut down and transport services were badly affected. On Wednesday, Madurai and other parts of southern districts slowly limped back to normalcy and people resumed work. However the mourning continued on Wednesday and a large number of AIADMK cadres participated in the mourning. At Kovilpatti a number of AIADMK cadres tonsured their head in front of the office of Kovilpatti MLA and Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Sellur K.Raju. The party offices remained deserted on Wednesday. Still the songs of Jayalalithaa were played in various parts of Madurai. Several new posters were also put up at various places by individual organisations condoling Jayalalithaa’s death. Many of the commercial centres and theatres remained closed in some of the AIADMK hotbeds such as Paramakudi, Theni and so on. Fishermen of Rameshwaram and Thoothukudi abstained from fishing for the second straight day. At Kanniyakumari Collectorate, the government officials and staff paid respect to her. As the offices were opened on Wednesday all the staff paid floral respect and observed silence for Jayalalithaa.

At Kovilpatti, Ponraj, Branch Treasurer of Ward.11 of Kovilpatti, who was watching the funeral ceremony of Jayalalithaa in his house at Kovilpatti suffered a heart attack on Tuesday evening and was immediately rushed to Kovilpatti. However, he had died at the hospital on Wednesday morning. He had served in the party for more than 15 years.

The delta farmers have expressed that they have lost their leader in J Jayalalithaa who fought for their rights and demand to build a Manimandapam for the late Chief Minister along the Cauvery. “Till 1991, more than 23 talks were held between the states and each was a failure. The late Chief Minister believed that the water crisis could be solved only legally. She was successful by making gazette notification and was also fighting legally for Cauvery Management Board”, said Swamimalai S Vimalnathan secretary of Cauvery farmers protection association. Vimalnathan was of full appreciation for her bold moves regarding farmers’ issues. She promised to stop the methane extraction project in Delta during her 2014 campaign and it was her continuous pressure that had made the centre to quit the project in Delta. “She even staged a hunger strike unto death for the Cauvery rights and waived agricultural loans”, said P Viswanathan,State president of Tamil Nadu lake and river water irrigation farmers association. He said the late CM has shown concern for the delta farmers and fought for the Cauvery rights and so a Manimandapam should be built for her, for which they plan to meet the present Chief Minister soon. Meanwhile, farmers said, had she been aware of the current drought condition and death of farmers, she would have declared the state as drought-hit even without waiting for the centre to announce. And presently the farmers are in a confused state whom to put forth their demands.