Jayalalithaa Laid To Rest With Full Military Honours

Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was buried with full military honours at Marina Beach beside the tomb of her mentor MG Ramachandran (MGR), here on Tuesday evening.

Soon after the rituals got over around 6 PM, the sandalwood casket carrying Jayalalithaa's mortal remains was lowered down after the traditional gun salute amidst emotional chants of 'Amma Vazhga' (Long Live Amma) by the thousands of people who had converged there. Jayalalithaa's long-time confidante Sasikala Natarajan and the AIADMK supremo's nephew Deepak performed the last rites at the M G Ramachandran Memorial Site.

Earlier, the AIADMK's body was brought in a flower bedecked gun carage from Rajaji Hall to Marina Beach. Scores of fans, well wishers and people from all walks of the society lined up the entire procession route. It took the Army truck that served as a hearse more than an hour to cover the three-km journey from Rajaji Hall to Marina Beach. Among those who travelled on the Army truck were Jayalalithaa's long-time companion, Sasikala Natarajan and Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who took oath on Monday night.

In view of the several VIPs attending the funeral, security arrangements at Marina Beach was at its peak with personnel from the paramilitary and the state police securing the Beach area and the procession route.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived by special flights in Chennai to pay tribute to the departed leader. Chief ministers of eight states were also in attendance that included Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Akhilesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and Siddaramaiah (Karnataka).

Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leader Gulam Nadi Azad were also present.

The Green Colour: When Jayalalithaa's body was taken from her Poes Garden residence early this morning to Rajaji Hall, it was draped in her trademark green saree, though with a red border. When she was sworn in as chief minister for a sixth time after emerging triumphant in the May 16 assembly polls, she was wearing a green saree. Also, when she took oath as chief minister for the fifth time on May 23 last year after being acquitted in the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka High Court, she donned a saree of the same colour. According to some AIADMK workers, green is Jayalalithaa's lucky and favourite colour.

Gun Carriage Bedecked With Flowers: Over two tonne of flowers from several destinations were used by about 40 workers who worked for 10 hours to prepare the Army truck and gun carriage for the final journey of Jayalalithaa. The flowers were of two varieties, one being the decorative kind, including cut flowers like zebra plant, asparagus and daisy and the other, more traditional varieties like rose and white marigold (Vellai samandi in Tamil). The garlands were used to on the army truck, the gun carriage and the memorial site for Jayalalithaa.