Chennai: It has been a month since Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa was admitted to hospital, yet very little is known about the nature of her illness.

State finance minister O. Panneerselvam has been officially allocated the portfolios of Jayalalithaa in an interim arrangement as her treatment continues at Apollo Hospital in Chennai.

The level of secrecy over the chief minister’s health has been unprecedented. Jayalalithaa, 68, was hospitalized on 22 September; since then, the hospital has issued only sporadic bulletins on her health.

The hospital bulletins said she was suffering from fever, dehydration and lung congestion.

The statements from the hospital, which seemed to conceal more about her health than they revealed, came to an abrupt pause after 10 October for 10 days until Friday’s health bulletin said Jayalalithaa was “interacting and progressing gradually".

The secrecy has sparked rumours on social media, prompting the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to launch a Twitter campaign to quell speculation about Jayalalithaa’s health.

Supporters of Jayalalithaa are offering special prayers for the speedy recovery of their leader.

“The extensive secrecy is not helping AIADMK in any way, in fact it has become a deterrent," a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader said earlier this month.

Together with the AIADMK’s effort on Twitter to quell rumours, the cyber-crime branch of the Chennai city police has jumped into the action.

Police have arrested people for spreading rumours on social media. In fact, it went so far as to arrest two men in Coimbatore on 13 October based on a complaint by an AIADMK party member who claimed that she overheard them making fun about Jayalalithaa’s health.

“People have the fundamental right to express (themselves). And, whether it is (IPC section) 500 or 505, arrest may not be an answer. There are other avenues to check rumour-mongering," said National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson and former Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu said on Friday.

In August, the Supreme Court criticized the Tamil Nadu government for filing too many defamation cases. Pointing out that 213 defamation cases have been filed by the state, the court said criticism of a government does not mandate that a defamation case be filed.

Over the last one month, Apollo Hospital in Chennai has also seen frequent visits by top politicians from across the country. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, Union information and broadcasting minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, finance minister Arun Jaitley and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, among others, have visited the hospital.

Though none of them met the chief minister, they were briefed by doctors and AIADMK leaders at the hospital.

The opposition DMK has demanded an interim arrangement until chief minister Jayalalithaa recovers and raised questions about governance. With pressure mounting, her portfolios were handed over to Panneerselvam.

Jayalalithaa, however, continues to be chief minister without portfolio.

While Panneerselvam chaired a cabinet meeting on Wednesday with a strategically placed photo of Jayalalithaa on his desk, ministers and senior leaders of the AIADMK are spending their time in temples and organizing special prayers for the speedy recovery of Jayalalithaa.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Share Via