Sea of mourners throngs streets for last glimpse of Vajpayee on final journey
A tearful nation bid farewell to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday evening. Amid the chant of “Atal Bihari amar rahe”, Vajpayee’s mortal remains were consigned to flames at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on the banks of the Yamuna at Central Delhi on Friday.
Thousands of mourners joined the funeral procession of Vajpayee with Prime Minister Narendra Modi walking all along from the BJP headquarters to the sthal behind the decorated the gun-carriage carrying the body of Vajpayee.
President Ram Nath Kovind, BJP chief Amit Shah, several Union Ministers, BJP leaders, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were present at the Sthal.
People showered petals at the funeral procession and jostled to get the last glimpse of Vajpayee, who passed away after prolonged illness at All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday evening.
The air was solemn as Vajpayee’s body, clad in the tricolour, was placed on a platform draped in white flowers. Thousands paid last respects to the body in silence, with a large portrait of a smiling Vajpayee — a BJP flag on either side — in the backdrop.
A flower-bedecked cortege carried Vajpayee’s body from the BJP headquarters on DD Upadhyaya Marg to the Sthal. The foreign dignitaries who made it to the funereal included Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Pakistan’s law Minister Ali Zafar. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai too paid homage to Vajpayee.
Diplomats from other countries attended the funeral of the region’s much-loved leader. Global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, condoled Vajpayee’s death. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Vajpayee recognised the US-India partnership will contribute to the world’s economic prosperity and security.
People of all age groups and from all walks of life made their way to the national Capital soon after the formal announcement of the death of Vajpayee. Young and old, men and women, some with children from far distances travelled on scooters, bikes, cars, taxi, auto-rickshaw, buses and trains gathered outside the gates of BJP headquarters and Vajpayee’s home in early hours of Friday to pay him homage.
Some even climbed atop trees just to have a glimpse of the departed leader. Separated by distance, these men and women were united by their admiration for the former PM.
Getting no reservation in train, 68-year-old Ram Swaroop travelled from Mandor in Punjab with his son and wife in a hired car and reached 6A Krishna Menon Marg — Vajpayee’s residence —around 4 am where his mortal remains were kept for people to pay their last respects. Swaroop said, “My family and I are associated with the party for last 42 years and I had met Vajpayee several times. He was true leader. His statesmanship and poetic skills were impressive. We have lost a great leader.”
“There was a long queue when I arrived here at the BJP headquarters around 7 am. After 3 hours, I was able to pay tribute to my leader. He was a leader loved and respected by millions,” said Rajiv Sharma, who had come from Panipat in Haryana to pay his last respects to the late leader.
Pankaj Kumar, who had come from Samastipur in Bihar, said with tears in his eyes that the poet-politician had a voice which used to awake a sense of patriotism for country in a person. “I had reached here around 5 am first at Atalji’s house where I was not able to look at him for one last time. I even reached the BJP headquarters but there was a huge crowd and was impossible to have a last glimpse of the leader,” said Pankaj.
Onlookers and followers took pictures of the vehicle chanting the slogans “Jab tak sooraj chand rahega, Atalji ka naam rahega,” punctuated by patriotic cheers of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”.
“I had grown up listening to the speeches of Vajpayee. I was in college when the Pokhran nuclear test had marked our country in the list of nuclear countries. That was a proud moment for us,” said Devender Singh, who had come on bike from Shamli (Uttar Pradesh) to pay tribute to Vajpayee. Amid sultry weather conditions, thousands walked along the seven-km-long route from the BJP headquarters to the Sthal.
Aakash Kumar, standing outside the BJP headquarters, said he had been waiting for hours to see Vajpayee for the last time. “The flowers I have brought have dried up in this heat,” he said.
There were some people who brought “holy water” of the Ganga from Haridwar for their departed leader. Sat Singh, who came from Haridwar, carried the Ganga water in a 5 litre can, said Vajpayee’s death is an irreversible loss not only to the politics but also in the world of literature and poetry.
Seen as a moderate face of the BJP nurtured by then hardcore leader lK Advani, Vajpayee first became PM in 1996, leading a shaky coalition whose members were suspicious of the BJP’s right-wing politics. It lasted for 13 days and collapsed after losing a vote of no-confidence. His second stint as PM started in 1998 when the National Democratic Alliance again came to power but that lasted for just 13 months. Finally, the NDA with Vajpayee as PM returned to power in 1999 and became the first non-Congress Government to complete the full 5-year term.