Mysuru: The people in Melkote, the native place of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa paid their respects silently to the late leader even as Cauvery agitation is still fresh in their minds. Mourners paid tributes to Jayalalithaa at Melkote, which has over 66 Iyengar families including 30 families belonging to Mandyapuram Iyengar to which Tamilnadu’s former chief minister belongs to.
During the recent Cauvery row there was threat perceive for people speaking in Tamil and those speaking the language at Melkote were not ready to come out openly and even identify themselves as Tamilians. However, in the current scenario, most of the people in Melkote from different communities paid their respect to late Jayalaithaa and lauded her work and leadership qualities.
Snannikaru Srinivasa Narasimhan Guruji of Melkote Temple said, “There is no documentary evidence to prove that she born here but the information passed on through generations and evidence related to the temple states that their family was from Melkote. Most of these families were working in temples and were given free ration by the government. Mysuru Maharaja used to visit Melkote and have links with Mandyam Iyengars including the family members of Jayalalithaa. Jayalalithaa’s mother who is also called Ambuja Valli, after two years stay in Melkote had shifted to Mysuru and continued to have good contact with the Mysuru Maharaja”. He also mentioned that Jayalalithaa as an actor visited Melkote four to five times. After she got into politics, her followers, before Jayalalithaa her filed nomination paper for Legislative Assembly election, had brought the application form and performed special Pooja here. She had also assured her followers that she will visit Melkote”. He also mentioned that she had immense knowledge and the people of Tamil Nadu will definitely miss her service.
Meanwhile, 78-year-old Devegowda said “She did not do any injustice to people. She came out with various welfare programmes for the people of Tamil Nadu. She sacrificed a lot for the people of Tamil Nadu who for her good work called her Amma”.
