CHENNAI: To mark the occasion of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's 68th birthday, over 1,000 party cadres tattooed her image on their arms. Organiser Velachery MLA M K Ashok had planned the event for around 668 people, however, the numbers rose to 1050. “I have a tattoo of Amma that I got made two years ago. Many youngsters saw that and wanted something similar. I thought why not celebrate Amma's birthday with her tattoos, so that we can show our undying love by permanently having her image and name. Today, I tattooed the word Amma too,” he said. K Premalatha of Tharamani said that even though she had been a party member since 1989, she could not get the opportunity to get the tattoo. “I wanted something permanent to show my love to Amma and what better way than a tattoo. Several of my neighbours, who are not party cadres too came as they love Amma.”
Diamond Rajini, a gypsy from Vellore, said the organisers gave fresh needles for each of the participants and good imported red, green and purple colours. “We are all Amma’s and Thalaivar’s fans. I have tattoos of the ship that was featured in the Tamil movie 'Aayirathil Oruvan' and MGR and the two-leaves symbol of the party,” he said. Senior party leaders and Ministers, including O Panneerselvam, Natham R Viswanathan, R Vaithilingam, Edappadi K Palaniswami, P Palaniappan and B Valarmathi, participated in the event organised on the eve of Jayalalithaa’s birthday.
The tattoos read 'Amma everything for us'. If reports are to be believed, birthday celebrations for the CM already began a month earlier.
