Nation bids adieu to Vajpayee

​New Delhi: Bugles sounded the last post, uniformed soldiers clicked their heels and a sombre silence fell over the crowd as former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s mortal remains were consigned to the flames on Friday evening, the sun setting on the life of a poet-politician who combined accommodative politics with graciousness. Foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya lit the pyre as cries of “Atal Bihari Amar Rahe” reverberated. 

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh were among the thousands of people at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on the banks of the Yamuna, the BJP patriarch’s final resting place. Several foreign dignitaries, including the king of Bhutan and the Bangladesh’s foreign minister, were also present. 

The former prime minister was accorded a state funeral with thousands of people joining his last journey. Earlier, thousands of mourners jostled and some clambered-on trees to capture the moment on their phones as the former prime minister’s cortege left the BJP’s headquarters for Rashtriya Smriti Sthal for the last rites of the poet-politician.

People from across the country gathered outside the BJP headquarters and hundreds lined up inside to pay homage to the former prime minister, who wove together pragmatism and a vision for an inclusive India. Vajpayee, 93, passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here on Thursday evening after prolonged illness. 

The young and old, men and women, some with children, collected outside the gates of the BJP headquarters, anxious for a last glimpse of the late leader before the state funeral on the banks of the Yamuna later in the day.
Inside, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and a host of ministers and party workers paid their last respects to the late leader, mourned by them and the opposition as one of India’s tallest leaders.

The air was solemn as Vajpayee’s body, draped in the Tricolour, was placed on a platform draped in white flowers. Hundreds of people filed past the body in silence, with a large portrait of a smiling Vajpayee--a BJP flag on either side --in the backdrop. 

Opposition leaders like CPI’s D Raja and CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury were among those who visited the BJP headquarters to pay their respects. Earlier in the morning, hundreds of people chanted ‘Atal Bihari Amar Rahe’ as Vajpayee’s cortege made its way from his home through the city to reach the BJP office.

Mourners walked and ran beside the carriage, also chanting slogans like ‘Jab tak sooraj chand rahega, Atal ji ka naam rahega’, punctuated by patriotic cheers of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. A decorated gun carriage carrying his mortal remains had left his home on Krishna Menon Marg around 10 am and reached the party’s headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, about 5 km away, around 11 am.

The funeral procession went through Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi Gate, Netaji Subhash Marg, Nishadraj Marg and Shanti Van before reaching Smriti Sthal. Police have made elaborate security arrangements for the funeral procession, officials said.

In the morning, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat paid homage to the former prime minister at his official residence.

Seen as a moderate face of the BJP, Vajpayee first became prime minister 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 prime minister was 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 was voted out in 2004.