Thousands mourn beloved leader Jayalalithaa in south India
CHENNAI, India (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people thronged the southern Indian city of Chennai on Tuesday to honor their beloved leader, Jayaram Jayalalithaa, a former film actress and popular politician.
Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, died late Monday after surgery following a heart attack a day earlier.
A sea of weeping mourners surged toward the steps of a public hall, where Jayalalithaa's body, draped in the Indian flag, was kept on a raised platform.
Doctors barred visitors, sparking rumors that they were withholding bad news out of fear it could trigger the same outpouring of grief, riots and suicides that followed the death of Jayalalithaa's political and acting mentor, M.G. Ramachandran.
Laptop computers and bicycles to students, spice grinders, free rice and subsidized food to the poor, cows and goats to farm women, enabling them to rise out of rural poverty.