CHENNAI: Hope and grief were writ large on the faces of hundreds of party cadres and supporters, albeit interchangeably, throughout Monday as they waited for news about the health of the Chief Minister.
The chain of incidents started when Apollo Hospitals on Sunday issued a release around 9.30 pm stating that the chief minister had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Ever since Jayalalithaa was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit on Sunday, there has been uncertainty over her health, which has contributed to brief instances of the crowd outside the hospital becoming restive.
Outside the hospital gates, which is tightly guarded, party cadre, of whom a significant number were women, were seen praying fervently on Sunday evening. Even on Monday afternoon, high hopes were there that the chief minister would stage a complete recovery.
This was reflected in the confident statements given by the cadre who spoke to the media.
On Sunday, there were very few VIP visits to the hospital, except the immediate arrival of party MLAs and ministers. But, the most prominent visit which evoked great doubts over its timing was that of Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao who came in at around 12 pm midnight.
Arriving from Mumbai, he came straight to the hospital where he spent a little more than 10 minutes.
On Monday, there was an early medical bulletin in the morning stating that the chief minister was critical. With no further information made available to the crowd outside, they were left to rely on social media as well as mainstream media. While all the eyes were on the MLAs meeting said to be taking place inside the hospital, the tweets from Sangita Reddy, joint managing director Apollo Hospitals, and a statement from Professor Richard Beale, the UK doctor consulted for Jayalalithaa’s treatment on the grave health situation of the chief minister saddened the cadres a bit.
But, the rumours eventually prove costly, as the cadre responding to false alarm about the demise of the chief minister at around 5 pm, turned restive. Chairs and missiles were thrown, prompting intervention of the police and armed guards to stop the disturbance. On Greams Road, police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the crowd.
However, when it was clarified by the hospital that the news reports were false and that the CM was still being treated, a sense of calm returned. As the evening grew darker, the crowd went thin as most cadre left the place but the police were nevertheless on their guard.
Several politicians, including Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Vaiko, Thol Thirumavalavan, Tamilisai Sundararajan, CPM’s G Ramakrishnan, visited the hospital.