VAJPAYEE’S ASHES IMMERSED
Ashes taken in a procession to HarKiPauri in Haridwar; thousands from across region throng streets of temple town
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s daughter Namita and soninlaw Ranjan Bhattacharya immerse his ashes in the Ganga in Haridwar on Sunday.
HARIDWAR: Thousands of people from Uttarakhand and neighbouring states gathered in Haridwar on Sunday as former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ashes were immersed in the Ganga amid Vedic chants and recitation of mantras.
An army vehicle carried the ashes, which were first kept at the City Sports Stadium. Union minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his Uttarakhand counterpart, Trivendra Singh Rawat, were among those who offered floral tributes to Vajpayee at the stadium. The ashes were taken in a procession to Har-Ki-Pauri, around three kilometres away, where the immersion rituals are carried out. People thronged HarKi-Pauri to pay their tributes.
Vajpayee’s foster daughter, Namita, her husband, Ranjan Bhattacharya, and their daughter, Niharika, consoled each other when the ashes were immersed in the Ganga.
Adityanath said the immersion of Vajpayee’s ashes in rivers across the country would follow.
Ganga Sabha president Purushottam Sharma Gandhivadi said the ashes were immersed as per the Sanatan Dharma rituals. He said now Vajpayee’s soul will leave for heaven and get salvation. Spaniard Maria, who is practising yoga at Hardwar’s Chetan Jyoti Ashram, was among those who had turned up to offer tributes to Vajpayee. “In Spain, too, we admired Vajpayee because of his charismatic personality and regard people of India give to him. We especially came to offer flowers as his ashes are being taken for immersion in the Ganges.”
Earlier, there was much confusion over who will perform the rituals. Three teerth purohits claimed to be ancestral-family priests of Vajpayee’s family.
Ganga Sabha, the apex body which manages affairs at Har-KiPauri, gave the go-ahead to teerth purohit Pundit Akhilesh Shastri, who is from Gwalior where Vajpayee was born, for the rituals.
Shastri could not perform the rituals because of a death in his family recently. On his behalf, Hari Om Sharma performed the rituals. Shailesh Mohan claimed he had the right to perform the rituals as he belongs to Vajpayee ancestral village in Uttar Pradesh. Upendra Bhakt claimed to be teerth purohit in Haridwar of all Vajpayee caste families.
“After verification, there was a consensus that both Shailesh Mohan and Upendra Bhakt failed to show any relevant documents…,’’ Ganga Sabha general secretary Ram Kumar Mishra said. Vajpayee’s relative, Anup Mishra, also confirmed Shastri’s family had been carrying out rituals of the family.
In Jaipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it will take out a procession for the immersion of Vajpayee’s ashes on Monday. The procession will pass through thousands of villages, state BJP president Madanlal Saini said on Sunday.
“The asthi kalash will arrive in Jaipur on Monday,’’ he said. “People will be able to pay homage to the late leader through the duration of the yatra (procession). We are yet to take a decision on the duration of the yatra. It could last for one day or two days depending on the route of the yatra,” Saini said.
Rajasthan minister Arun Chaturvedi said they will bring the ashes from Delhi to Jaipur by air on Monday.
A BJP press release said the ashes will be immersed in Mahi river in Banswara and in Pushkar. Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani said the government is planning to include Vajpayee’s biographical sketch in textbooks.
Vajpayee’s death had forced chief minister Vasundhara Raje to postpone the second leg of her Gaurav Yatra for galvanising support ahead of assembly polls due later this year. In a series of tweets, Raje recalled her association with Vajpayee and the cordial relations he had shared with her mother, Rajmata Scindia.
The Jharkhand government, too, will include Vajpayee’s biographical sketch in school textbooks. Chief minister Raghubar Das has asked the state education minister Neera Yadav to draft modalities in this regard. “The state’s children must know about Vajpayee, as he was the person behind Jharkhand’s creation. His biography would inspire the students to do good for the society,” said Yadav. The state government is also planning to set up a memorial to the former PM.