Church leaders join to mourn death of Jayalalithaa

Jayaram Jayalalithaa celebrated Christmas with church leaders and supported Christians going for pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Photo courtesy: larazonsanluis

Chennai:  Tamil Nadu, the south Indian state with a high Christian population, is mourning the death of Jayaram Jayalalithaa, the popular state chief minister who died Dec. 5 following months of hospitalization.

The actress-turned-politician, 68, was hospitalized since September and her health condition kept secret until her death by cardiac arrest was announced.

While her Anna Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) party government announced an official mourning for seven days, declaring three days of holiday for educational institutions and offices in the state, shops and business establishments also remained shut.

People in the state have a history of turning violent during the death of their leaders.

Inter-state buses plying to the state have stopped at the border fearing party supporters could turn violent for conducting business on a day when they mourn the death of their leader.

"It is imperative the people of the state remain calm and avoid violence during this troubled time," said Archbishop Anthony Pappusamy, president of the Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council.

Jayalalitha headed the ADMK party since 1991 and has come to power for four terms, despite being accused by rivals of corruption, nepotism and sycophancy. She was voted back to power in a historic consecutive second term in May 2016.

She was also convicted of corruption and was facing a final appeal against her acquittal at the Supreme Court.

Despite her convent education, Jayalalitha's relations with religious minorities was initially frosty as she enacted an anti-conversion law in 2003 that made religious conversions without informing the state a crime. As Christians and Muslims opposed the controversial law, she withdrew it in 2005 before the general elections.

The state has some 4.4 million Christians among its 72 million people. The number of Christians in the state is more than double the national average of 2.3 percent.

During her 2001-2016 administration, she made attempts for a rapprochement with Christians and celebrated Christmas publicly with church leaders and later announced her government's support for Christians going for pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Father Joe Anthony, editor of the Jesuit magazine Jivan, told ucanews.com that she was "an extraordinary politician" as she was "richly blessed by God with beauty, intelligence, talent and fluency in many languages."

"An extremely capable administrator, she had total control over the state administration and her party" and was "accompanied by populist welfare schemes that appealed to the poor," he said.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, federal ministers have also issued statements expressing their condolences.

Source: UCAN