THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Tamil community in the district on Tuesday joined the hundreds in mourning the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
A pall of gloom engulfed the regions, especially Karamana, Poojapura, Chala, Fort and Balaramapuram where hundreds of Tamil Nadu natives are settled. Apart from this, the labourers and people from the neighbouring state who work here also expressed their grief over the demise of their beloved leader.
While some of them preferred to stay indoors to have last- minute updates and see the funeral live, many others were forced to work, with no option. Many of the labourers wanted to go back to their native villages but were stuck here with no transportation available with the announcement of bandh in Tamil Nadu.
The main junctions where there is considerable Tamil population had portraits of the departed leader where floral tributes were paid. AIADMK state treasurer Sreenivasan Venugopal said people were sad to hear the news. “It is not only Tamil Nadu but I think everyone is sad,” he said. The party also conducted a silent prayer and took a silent march in the city. Ramkumar, a cloth merchant from Balaramapuram, said that there was an overall gloom in the streets of Balaramapuram.
“Many people have not gone for work and are watching TV to get the last glimpse of their leader. Many of those working in shops have taken leave. Moreover, autorickshaw drivers belonging to the community have not gone to work. They said that they would take the autos after the cremation is over,” he said.
Meanwhile Ranga Swamy Raja, a businessman who runs hotels in the city, said that there was sadness everywhere. Though many of the labourers wanted to go home, they could not do so as they were extremely sad, he said. Gayathri Kishore, a Technopark employee, said that she wanted to take leave and stay at home to see the latest updates and also see the funeral live. “But here, it is not possible to get leave and that is why I am here. I talked to my friends and also relatives and all are sad that we have lost our great leader. Though staying here in Thiruvananthapuram, we all are sad that we have lost our Amma,” she said.
Thiruvananthapuram Tamil Sangam president M Muthuraman said that they organised a condolence meet, where a lot of people participated. He said Jayalalithaa was a leader who always promoted Tamil and its culture. He said the Sangham was happy that it had received the Tamil Tai Viruthu award from the Chief Minister in 2015 for the promotion of Tamil.