FINAL ADIEU
Neeraj had sought euthanasia a week before death
Gopaldas Neeraj had sought euthanasia about a week before his death, an official said. In letter to the Aligarh district magistrate, the poet on July 11 expressed his wish to be ‘free’ from his body, which was becoming a ‘burden’ because of continued illness. Aligarh DM Chandra Bhushan confirmed having received such a letter from the poet.
Noted Hindi poet Surendra Sharma paying tributes to poetlyricist Gopal Das Neeraj, in Agra on Saturday. Das was cremated with full state honours in Aligarh later in the day.
ALIGARH: ‘Geet ek aur zara jhoom ke gaa lun to chalun’ (let me sing another song before I leave) – famous lines penned by celebrated poet-lyricist Gopal Das Neeraj – seemed to be in air, as his mortal remains were cremated with full state honours in Aligarh on Saturday.
The poet breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi, on Thursday, aged 93.
His last journey began from his house in Janakpuri, Aligarh. The cavalcade crossed Marris Road amid recital of verses penned by Neeraj and reached ‘Krishnanjali Natyashala’ where his tricolourdraped body was placed for last ‘darshan’.
A specially decorated vehicle carried the body from Janakpuri till ‘Moksha Dham’ at Aligarh Numaish Maidan. The cremation took place in the presence of minister in state cabinet Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, who paid tributes to Neeraj, as the poet’s sons lit the funeral pyre.
MP Satish Gautam, MLAs Sanjeev Raja, Anil Parashar and Thakur Dalveer Singh, SSP Aligarh Ajay Sahni, DM Aligarh Chandra Bhushan and director of Mangalayatan University Swapnil Jain attended the last rites. Commissioner Aligarh division Ajay Deep Singh, IG Dr Preetinder Singh, mayor Mohd Furkan also offered tributes.
Earlier, the poet’s admirers and followers had gathered in large numbers at his house in Agra where his daughter Kundanika Sharma was present. The remains were brought here from AIIMS, New Delhi, at around 8 am on Saturday.
Among those who reached Agra to pay tribute to the great poet was former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. He was followed by his uncle Shivpal Yadav. Noted poets such as Uday Pratap, Surendra Sharma, Arun Jaimini, Kumar Vishwas and Shashi Tiwari also paid respects to Neeraj.
Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Ram Shankar Katheria, mayor of Agra Naveen Jain and MLA Agra North Jagan Prasad Garg also paid tributes to the poet credited with penning the eternal ‘Karwan guzar gaya’ among many other literary gems.
“Hisdemiseisabigloss.The emotions he used in his verses made him one of the greatest poets of Hindi literature. He also left his mark by writing lyrics for several Hindi movie songs. He was as good a human being as he was a poet, and will remain in our memories forever,” said Akhilesh.
“Samajwadi people have always respected literature and those making contributions to it. We will build something big in Etawah, the native district of Neeraj ji, to cherish his memories. It was in Etawah that Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) formed his association with Neeraj ji,” said the SP president, who also met the poet’s family and consoled them.
Poet-politician Kumar Vishwas said that Neeraj had charmed personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Osho, Raj Kapoor and Dev An and with his verses.
“Neeraj ji was not only a poet, but a philosophy in himself. He was that rare personality who shared the dais with the likes of Dinkar, Nirala, Pant and Mahadevi Verma, and sang his creations with Om Prakash Aditya. He also blessed youngsters like me in his last days,” said Vishwas.
In the afternoon, the mortal remains of Neeraj were taken to Aligarh, where he spent the latter part of his life. A large crowd of well wishers, admirers and acquaintances had gathered near his house to bid their beloved poet a tearful adieu.
BODY NOT DONATED
Neeraj was cremated despite having made a written wish to donate his body to AMU’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College for research. This was due to his eldest son Milan Prabhat Gunjan’s views.
“There was not much left in my father’s body, which had faced severe infection. So, we chose not to donate the body and went ahead with the cremation,” said Milan.
Taking a contrasting position, the poet’s younger son Shashank Prabhakar, who lives in Agra, said that Neeraj had made the donation wish “through a legal tender”. “JNMC should come forward and seek his body,” Shashank said on Saturday.
However, JNMC authorities had clarified on Friday that the wishes of family members would prevail and they would not seek the body on their own.