Sir — This refers to the report, “Tears mark TN CM’s swearing-in” (September 30). One can understand J Jayalalithaa’s loyalist feeling unhappy at their leader’s conviction in a disproportionate assets case, but it was disgusting to see the newly-appointed Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues publicly shedding tears and loudly sobbing in front of television cameras, like children, in mournful solidarity with their jailed supreme leader, at the swearing-in ceremony.
No wonder, some TV commentators and the former Chief Minister’s critics regarded it as a pathetic show which only hangers-on and courtiers are capable of. It was the worst form of hero- worship and deification that does no credit to a generally positive image of Tamils as an intelligent, educated and mature people.