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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Jayalalithaa dies at Apollo Hospital
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Jayalalithaa dies at Apollo Hospital

Despite all efforts, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, who was on ECMO and other life support systems, died on Monday night, says Apollo Hospital

Jayalalithaa, who is also the leader of the AIADMK, had been in hospital since 22 September. Photo: ReutersPremium
Jayalalithaa, who is also the leader of the AIADMK, had been in hospital since 22 September. Photo: Reuters

Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa died at 11.30pm on Monday, according to a statement by Apollo Hospital in Chennai.

Jayalalithaa, who had been hospitalized on 22 September, suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday, following which she was admitted is on ECMO and other life support systems, Apollo said. ECMO, or extra corporeal membrane oxygenation, is a heart-and-lung machine used to support the body when one’s organs are too sick to do the job.

Despite all efforts, the chief minister’s “underlying conditions rendered her unable to recover", the hospital said.

Earlier in the day, the faithful had gathered outside Apollo Hospital, as the city, the state of Tamil Nadu, and the entire country held its collective breath on Monday, while the state’s popular chief minister J. Jayalalithaa battled for life inside.

The city remained on edge for most of the day as periodic statements from the hospital and a specialist involved in treating the chief minister described her condition as “very critical" and “grave", a distinct change from the optimistic tone of earlier statements on the health of Jayalalithaa, who has been in hospital since 22 September.

A brief rumour on her death was quickly scotched, but local law enforcement officials, businesses and some of the city’s older citizens who remember the widespread looting that followed the 1987 death of chief minister M.G. Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa’s mentor, remained nervous.

Like MGR, as he was and is popularly known, Jayalalithaa, has a cult following in the state, where she is known as Amma (mother) and Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader). Now in her fourth term as chief minister, Jayalalithaa has evolved her own style—a mix of authoritarianism and paternalism—to run a welfare state. She was first elected to the post in 1991, and also won elections in 2001, 2011 and 2016.

However, she has been dogged by allegations of corruption and has had to step down, albeit temporarily, as chief minister twice, for five months in 2001-02, and for eight months in 2014-15. Both times, O. Panneerselvam stood in for her, as he continues to do now.

“Despite our best efforts, our beloved CM remains in a grave situation," Apollo Hospital’s joint managing director Sangita Reddy said in a Twitter post on Monday. An earlier bulletin from the hospital described her condition as “very critical".

Richard Beale, a London-based doctor who was involved in Jayalalithaa’s treatment, concurred that the situation was “extremely grave", though he confirmed that “everything possible is being done to give her the best chance" and that a team of doctors has been sent from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, to Chennai to help in Jayalalithaa’s treatment.

On Monday, supporters of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam pelted the hospital with stones, shoved the barricades around it and threatened to burn it down if anything happened to their beloved leader.

Thousands of policemen have been stationed outside the hospital and roads in the area have been closed to regular traffic. Shops and some offices closed early, and the US Consulate in Chennai, which has temporarily suspended routine appointments, issued an advisory to visiting US citizens, asking them to review their “personal security plans".

A significant part of India’s auto and auto-components industry is based in and around Chennai, which has in the past decade also emerged as a hub for IT services.

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Published: 05 Dec 2016, 01:10 PM IST
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