'Amma, We Need You': At Hospital, Jayalalithaa Fans Refuse To Disperse

Chennai: The doctors attending to her have confirmed, after days of uncertainty, what J Jayalalithaa's party has been claiming - that the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is recovering and responding to her treatment. But for hundreds of fans, the vigil won't end till the 68-year-old is home safe.

Camping outside since the day that she was admitted to Apollo Hospital is Moduram Ponnusamy,  Moduram means finger-rings and he lives upto his name with two huge rings on each hand bearing photos of Ms Jayalalithaa and the founder of her party, MG Ramachandran. Just in case that doesn't give away his affiliation, the necklace around his neck has a photo of the Chief Minister. The  ringtone on his phone is of a song from a film MGR starred in (like her mentor, Jayalalithaa is a former movie star).

Moduram left his farm a 10-hour journey away when he heard that "Amma" (mother) as she is known to lakhs of people had taken ill. He has been in Chennai ever since.

''I went on a padayatra (pilgrimage on foot) when MGR fell ill. I also prayed everywhere for him - in a temple, a mosque, a church. He came back from the US and ruled again. Amma will do the same,'' he predicts.
 
Amma's hold over Tamil Nadu is near incomparable, even in a precinct where voters often function as worshipers of political personalities, investing personally and melodramatically in their victories, setbacks and weddings. Earlier this year, she broke a 30-year-tradition which ensured no incumbent Chief Minister was re-elected for a consecutive term. With 37 lok sabha MPs, hers is the third-largest party in parliament.

MGR Venkatesan is another not-so-happy camper outside Apollo Hospital. He added MGR as a prefix to his name because he feels that better defines his identity. ''Nothing will happen to her,'' he insists. ''She is our God who walks and talks. We want to see her, but we can wait, let her rest for now," he says.

At a time when Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are locked into smouldering tension over how to share the River Cauvery, a team of Jayalalithaa fans drove down from Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, to check on their icon. They were worried about her safety, not their own, though the license plate on their car declares its - and their - provenance. Their talisman: a photo of Amma on their car.

''Only Madam will give protection. No other leader can give this. I will put up Madam's photo and then - no problem," said Yuvraj, the driver.

Devotion to Ms Jayalalithaa has been a personal and professional preoccupation for J Marimuthu. He runs a shop near her party's headquarters that sells memorabilia. The "J" in his name is for "Jayalalithaa" - the first initial in Tamil names is usually reserved for the biological father.

''Amma should return without any untoward happening. Not just for me, but for hundreds like me, who feel without Amma, there is no life worth living,'' he says, tears appearing.