Spontaneous outpour of sorrow, anguish

Chennai: In a spontaneous outpour of anguish and sorrow over the demise of DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, the people all over the state irrespective of their political affiliation paid tributes to him by lighting a lamp at the street corners and outside their homes on Wednesday.

While lakhs of people descended on Rajaji hall where his mortal remains kept for the public to pay homage, the common men garlanded and lighted incense sticks to his portrait and photographs to grieve the loss of their leader.

Traders associations, auto drivers and several welfare associations have also erected banners immediately after hearing the sad news.

Some posters had captions like “Goodbye, my brethren” and “Sun has set” and”Tamil is no more”.

“People have genuinely felt they have lost someone very close to them and they are expressing it collectively in many ways. The outpour of grief and anguish shows that he is no more a DMK party leader, but a leader of all Tamils,” a political science professor said.