Saturday, 11 December 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
The nation bids an emotional farewell to first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika as they were cremated here on Friday. Draped in the national flag, Rawat was accorded full military honours, including a 17-gun salute.
The bodies of General Rawat and his wife were placed side by side at the funeral pyre at the Brar Square, Delhi Cantonment. It was lit by their two daughters Kritika and Tarini after a brief religious ceremony. The Last Post was sounded by the Army buglers.
Befitting his rank and stature, General Rawat’s body was brought to the cremation ground from Kamraj in a gun carriage. The entire five to the six-km route was lined with people who showered flower petals when the cortege passed by them. Some young men also ran the entire distance alongside the cortege shouting patriotic slogans.
Earlier in the day, leaders cutting across party lines paid their homage by visiting General Rawat’s official residence at Kamraj Road here. Prominent leaders, who placed wreaths there, included Rahul Gandhi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP president JP Nadda, Congress leader M Mallikarjun Kharge and Minister Piyush Goyal.
Kejriwal was also present at the crematorium later along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttrakhand Chief Minister PS Dhami, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Colonel (retired) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval had paid their respects on Thursday evening after the bodies of the victims of the crash were brought to Palam airbase here from Wellington, Tamil Nadu.
In all, 13 passengers including General Rawat, his wife, his staff officer and the security team besides the aircrew were killed when the MI-17 helicopter carrying them crashed on Wednesday afternoon in village Kateri near Wellington. The lone survivor Group Captain Varun was now admitted to the military hospital in Bengaluru.
While the authorities managed to identify the bodies of General Rawat, his wife, and staff officer Brigadier LS Lidder, efforts were now on identifying the bodies of other killed, sources said. As the bodies suffered severe burn injuries, the DNA identification was taking time, they said.
Lidder’s cremation took place at Brar Square.
Meanwhile, foreign envoys and military commanders of some foreign countries also attended the cremation of the CDS at Brar Square. Some former Services chiefs including V K Singh, who is a minister in the union cabinet now, Deepak Kapoor and Admiral Sunil Lanba also paid their respects at the cremation site.
When the General’s body was laid in state at his official residence, 12 officers (from Army, Navy and Air Force) of the rank of Brigadier and equivalent were on Vigil Duty to maintain continuous vigil over the mortal remains.
Six officers (two each from Army, Navy and Air Force) of the rank of Lieutenant General equivalent were the pall bearers. The Ceremonial Battery of 2233 Field Regiment provided the gun carriage.
Ninety nine all ranks from the Army, Navy and Air force and 33 members of the tri-services band formed the front escort while 99 all ranks from the three Services were the Rear Escort, officials said adding a total of 800 service personnel were in attendance for the military funeral of the CDS.
As regards efforts to ascertain the cause of the crash, a court of inquiry headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh had started the process. In fact, a team had reached the crash site on Wednesday. The search and rescue team also retrieved the flight data recorder or black box and it may help the investigators to find the reason for the accident.
