CHENNAI: Funeral of ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth begins from Island Ground

Chennai: The last rites of DMDK founder president and actor Vijayakanth began at 3 pm. From the Island Grounds, where people from all sections of society paid homage to the mortal remains of the late leader from 6 am today.

Vijayakanth’s two sons stood with folded hands on the roof of the van carrying his mortal remains and a large number of people, mostly fans and beneficiaries of the actor’s philanthropic activities, waved farewell to their beloved leader. Vijayakanth’s wife Premlata Vijayakanth was sitting near the box in which the actor’s mortal remains were kept. The van was seen passing slowly through the crowd.

According to Chennai Police, the funeral procession will proceed through EVR Salai (Poonamallee High Road) to the DMDK headquarters, where Vijayakanth’s mortal remains will be buried with full state honors at around 4.45 pm. The funeral process started two hours late from the scheduled time and in such a situation the funeral may be delayed by some time. General public vehicles will be banned on the route through which the procession will pass. In such a situation, the police advised the public to avoid EVR Salai until the procession ends.

Since Friday morning, top leaders of various political parties gathered at the Island Ground to bid farewell to Vijayakanth. Governor RN Ravi paid floral tributes and consoled Premalatha Vijayakanth and her two sons. Earlier, actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan paid their respects to their colleague in cinema.

“Vijaya Kant used to get angry at his friends, politicians and even media people. But no one would be angry at Vijayakanth because there was a real reason for his anger. There was no selfish motive behind his anger. To have affection. Vijayakanth was known for his courage,” recalled Rajinikanth.

“The unique quality I like about Vijayakanth is his righteous anger. I’m a fan of that anger. I believe that Vijayakanth came into public life because of the same anger. For people like me, losing honest people like Vijayakanth is really causing loneliness.” After paying tribute at the Island Grounds, Kamal Haasan said, “I say goodbye to my good friend.”

Senior party leaders including Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP state president K Annamalai and Pon Radhakrishnan paid their last tribute to Vijayakanth at the Island Ground. Nirmala Sitharaman said that she respects Vijayakanth on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He described the DMDK founder president as a very important leader in Tamil Nadu. He also said that Vijayakanth was known to be a very humane political leader who had a large number of followers and the large gathering at the Island Ground proved it.

He said, “The most important thing is that Vijayakanth was a self-made man. Whatever he earned and whatever he spent was all earned by him. He was a very honest person.”

Meanwhile, a video showing Vijayakanth controlling the crowd during the funeral of famous actor Sivaji Ganesan in 2021 went viral on social media. At the time of Sivaji Ganesan’s death, his son and actor Prabhu was abroad and it was Vijayakanth who made all the arrangements for the funeral as well as the last rites.