DMK MLA J Anbazhagan succumbs to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu

He is the first MLA in the country to succumb to coronavirus

DMK MLA J Anbazhagan, one of the key strategists of the party in this metropolis and a close confidant of M K Stalin, passed away at a private hospital here on Wednesday after battling COVID-19 for the past eight days.

Incidentally, Anbazhagan died on his 62nd birthday and he is the first legislator in the country to die of COVID-19. A second generation DMK leader, Anbazhagan is survived by his wife and two children.

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Anbazhagan, who was at the forefront of the DMK’s ‘Ondrinaivom Vaa’ (Let us come together) campaign aimed at providing relief to those affected by the COVID-19 lockdown in the city before he was wheeled into Dr Rela Institute and Medical Centre on June 2, took his last breath at 8.05 am on Wednesday.

“(The condition of) Thiru Anbazhagan J, who has been fighting for his life with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, rapidly deteriorated early this morning. Despite full medical support including mechanical ventilation at our COVID-19 facility, he succumbed to his illness. He was declared dead at 8:05 hours on June 10, 2020,” the hospital said in a statement.

Anbazhagan, who was secretary of DMK's Chennai west district, was buried according to the Dravidian customs at Kannamapettai crematorium a little after 1 pm.

Since his admission into the hospital on June 2, Anbazhagan was on ventilator support though his condition was said to have improved on June 5 but worsened again on June 8. He was an avid cricket fan and was into production and distribution of movies.

Son of ‘Pazhakadai’ Jayaraman, who ran a juice shop in the city’s business district of T Nagar and one of the DMK members who was jailed during the 1975 Emergency, Anbazhagan was the party’s fearless voice in the Tamil Nadu Assembly as the DMK sat in the Opposition benches during all his three tenures as a legislator.

Elected as an MLA first from T Nagar in 2001, Anbazhagan lost from the same seat in 2006 but shifted to Chepauk-Triplicane in 2011 from where he won in 2016 too. Anbazhagan, known for his organisational skills and grandeur in organising party meetings and conferences, has had several run-ins with members of the treasury benches in the Assembly and was known for picking up arguments with the presiding officers of the House.

His proximity to the DMK’s first family could be gauged from the fact that he was chosen to succeed late patriarch M Karunanidhi from Chepauk constituency which added Triplicane to its name following the delimitation exercise in 2008 after the latter decided to shift to his home town of Tiruvarur.

In a moving eulogy, DMK President M K Stalin wondered how he would console party cadre and family members of Anbazhagan when he could not control his own grief due to the demise of the party legislator.

Recalling Anbazhagan’s contributions to the DMK, Stalin announced a three-day mourning period in honour of the departed leader during which the party flag will fly at half-mast.

A staunch loyalist of Stalin, Anbazhagan had always stood by the DMK President even when the former’s elder brother M K Azhagiri raised a rebellion.

When Azhagiri attempted to make a comeback into the DMK after M Karunanidhi’s death in 2018, it was Anbazhagan who first came out in the public to say the former’s expulsion from the DMK was announced by none other Karunanidhi and it cannot be overturned.

Leaders cutting political parties expressed their grief at Anbazhagan’s death and described his passing away as a “great loss” to the party.

While Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami posted his condolence message on Twitter, his deputy O Panneerselvam spoke to Stalin over the phone and expressed grief over Anbazhagan’s death.