New Delhi: Bugles sounded the last post, soldiers clicked their heels and fired in the air and the small gathering, many in PPE suits, raised their hands in salute as India’s 13th president Pranab Mukherjee was cremated on Tuesday in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
The nation bid farewell to Citizen Mukherjee’, who was given a ceremonial send-off in accordance with COVID-19 protocol, with visors, face shields, masks and the number of people at the Lodhi Road crematorium strictly restricted.
The tributes continued to pour in for the statesman, scholar and master political strategist, who stayed in public life for more than five decades as a long-time Congress leader and then as president, but only close family and friends were present at the funeral conducted with full state honours.
Mukherjee, 84, died on Monday at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital following a 21-day battle with multiple ailments. He tested positive for COVID-19 when he was admitted to the hospital on August 10 and was operated the same day for removal of a brain clot.
His son, former MP Abhijit Mukherjee, performed the last rites with family and friends paying their last respects clad in personal protective gear.
A hush fell over the crematorium as the coffin wrapped in tricolour made its way inside the complex. The air was solemn and fragrant with flowers.
Earlier in the morning, Mukherjee’s mortal remains were taken in a flower bedecked white hearse van from the hospital to his home in 10 Rajaji Marg.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chiefs of the three defence services and politicians cutting across party lines paid their last respects to the man, widely regarded as one of India’s most respected politicians across ideological divides.
As the nation observed seven-day mourning in honour of its “Bharat Ratna”, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and several Union ministers such as Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsh Vardhan were among those who paid homage to him at his home.
Maintaining social distancing and wearing masks, they paid floral tributes to a photo of Mukherjee while his remains were kept in another room.
In the afternoon, the cortege wound its way from his home in Lutyens Delhi to Lodhi Road a few kilometres away.
In another time, the funeral procession would have been a public event with crowds lining the roads. Today, a closed van, decorated with marigold flowers and his photograph on it, replaced a gun carriage, as It normally is for dignitaries.
The prime minister said the former president would be remembered by generations for his efforts towards India’s progress. (PTI)