Even as rumours spread like wildfire through social media on the health of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who is presently admitted in the Apollo hospital in Chennai, an 'edit war' broke out on Wikipedia on Friday after unknown users tried to declare September 30 as her date of death.
The edits, which started at around 6 am on Friday, saw a steep escalation at around 4:30 pm, with one section of people claiming that she was dead and another undoing those edits as it was unconfirmed.
While many added a death column on the Wikipedia page to 'confirm' that she died on September 30, some edits suggested that her 'Expected death date' was October 1.
Many users who declared her death, were also reported by other users to the Wikipedia admins.
(A screenshot of the edits, with an edit happening every few minutes)
One user wrote "The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is alive and undergoing treatment. it's a national issue now on Wikipedia. Please refrain in future."
(An edit which claimed that she died on Friday)
On Thursday morning, a medical bulletin announced that Jayalalithaa had been advised to stay for a few more days in the hospital for recuperative treatment.
Meanwhile, DMK President M Karunanidhi has urged the state government to put to rest rumours surrounding the CM’s health.
In a statement released on Friday, Karunanidhi said the Tamil Nadu government has a responsibility to inform people regarding the health status of the Chief Minister. He also urged the Governor to ensure that this is done to allay the fears of the people.
Jayalalithaa was admitted in Apollo for fever and dehydration on September 22. Subsequently, the hospital said she was cured of fever, was under observation and on a normal diet.