CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, wife laid to rest with full military honours
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Dec, 2021 11:56 AM
New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) With 17 gun salutes by tri-services personnel, the last rites of India's first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, and his wife, Madulika Rawat, were performed with full military honours at Brar Square in Delhi Cantonment on Friday.
The tri-services buglers played 'Last Post' followed by 'Rouse' just before the funeral pyres were lit by their daughter.
Before that, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid a wreath and paid homage to the departed souls at the crematorium.
"Paid my last respects to General Bipin Rawat and his wife, Madhulika Rawat. General Rawat devoted his life to serving and protecting our nation. India will remember his courage, valour and patriotism. Farewell General," Singh said in a tweet.
General Rawat, with his wife and 11 other armed forces personnel were killed after the IAF chopper they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
A funeral procession was taken out from the late General's residence on K. Kamraj Road to the Delhi Cantonment. Hundreds of people stood on both sides of the road during the procession to catch a glimpse of the final journey of India's first Chief of Defence Staff.
A total of 99 officers of all ranks from the Army, Navy and Air force, and 33 members of the tri-services band were the front escort, while 99 officers of all ranks from the three services acted as the rear escort. Twelve officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force of the rank of Brigadier and equivalent were on vigil duty.
The Indian Army also came up with an online link where one could pay tribute to the departed souls.
After the mortal remains reached the Brar Square crematorium, a ceremonial battery of 2,233 Field Regiment provided gun carriage.
Many senior military commanders from friendly foreign countries reached Delhi to attend the funeral of General Rawat and his wife.
From Sri Lanka, General Shavendra Silva, the Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, and Admiral Ravindra Chandrasiri Wijegunaratne (Retd), former Chief of Defence Staff and General Rawat's course mate at the National Defence College, paid homage.
Brigadier Dorji Rinchen, Deputy Chief Operations Officer of Royal Bhutan Army, Lt Gen Bal Krishna Karki, Chief of General Staff of Nepali Army, and Lt Gen Waker-UZ-Zaman, Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh, paid their respect.
A total of 800 service personnel attended the funeral.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey and many others paid their last respects to General Rawat and his wife at their residence in Delhi.
The mortal remains of another victim of the tragic crash, Brigadier L.S. Lidder, also was also laid to rest with full military honours at Brar Square.
Almost 15 months after the farmers' agitation began against the (now scrapped) farm laws and other issues, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions that led the protest, said on Thursday that it has suspended the agaitation after receiving positive assurances from the government on their demands, adding that the borders of Delhi will be cleared by Saturday.
India's civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, on Thursday extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till January 31.Earlier, India had announced plans to allow resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services from December 15 with certain conditions.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the country's top security officers held a meeting on Wednesday over the situation arising out of the IAF chopper crash in Tamil Nadu that killed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others onboard the ill-fated helicopter.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of the farmers protesting along the borders of the national capital over agricultural issues, have agreed to the draft proposal prepared by the Central government, and is expected make a "major announcement" on Thursday. A meeting is likely to be held on Thursday noon to decide the further strategy of the movement.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress high command for appointing Ajay Maken as the Chairman of the screening committee for shortlisting candidates for the next Vidhan Sabha elections in Punjab. In a statement here, Amarinder Singh said Maken is the nephew of (late) Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
