share this CHENNAI: The funeral ceremony of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday was a departure from tradition in two aspects. First, Jayalalithaa's body was buried instead of being cremated, going against Vaishnavite Brahminical tradition. Second, her friend Sasikalaa Natarajan, who was handed the national flag after the coffin was closed, led the former chief minister's nephew Deepak Jayakumar in performing the final rites. In Hindu customs, women are not allowed to perform final rites.
The feeling that pervaded the air around MGR Memorial was more ceremonious than grieving. The endgame came at 6.05pm as four men dutifully hammered nails into the coffin. Wreaths and salutations had been offered and the mortal remains of the AIADMK's talisman was about to be lowered into a pit.
Jayalalithaa's successor, O Panneerselvam, appeared to not have shaken off the shock of his leader's demise. He walked barefoot, quietly taking measured strides behind Sasikalaa, as the latter led her family to a makeshift stage. VN Sudhakaran, Jayalalithaa's once foster son and Sasikalaa's nephew, was present in the entourage.
It was Sudhakaran's ceremonious wedding in 1995 that brought disrepute and jail time to Jayalalithaa. On Tuesday, Sudhakaran preferred to sit back and remained on the dais instead letting Jayalalithaa's nephew take centre stage.
Earlier, it was all hustle and bustle at the burial site a few hours before the start of the funeral procession from Rajaji Hall, where Jayalalithaa's body was kept for public viewing. Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner D Karthikeyan was supervising the on-site preparations. A few attendees had already taken their seats at 3pm, notably including former city mayor Saidai S Duraisamy and Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan.
Outside the venue, crowd had begun to swell. Barricades set up to prevent party cadre from barging in was proving only just enough. Some who attempted to scale the memorial's wall were greeted with lathicharge from cops on duty. But people found a way around the obstacles. They scaled everything in sight, be it the Labour Statue or the roof of the Anna swimming pool beside the memorial, and perched atop the highest vantage point for a best view of the proceedings.
Soon, Union ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Pon Radhakrishnan arrived. A little after 4 pm, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi walked in flanked by Ghulam Nabi Azad and state Congress president Su Thirunavukkarasar on either side. Governor Vidyasagar Rao arrived at 4.40 pm.
After the coffin was lowered into the pit, chaos ensued as the cops lost control. Police personnel of the Tamil Nadu Home Guards left their stations and converged at the burial site. Many among them wanted a part of the history for themselves as they shot videos and clicked selfies, leading to disruption of the burial. The scene turned into one where cops had to battle their own kind in order to afford the late AIADMK chief privacy as she rested six foot under.
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