10th December, 2021
India’s Chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat was lain to final rest Friday with full military honours.
His last rites were performed along with his wife Madhulika Rawat, who died in the Indian Air Force chopper crash.
Their daughters Kritika and Tarini performed their last rites, reports Indian news agency ANI.
At the ceremony at Delhi’s Brar Square Crematorium, the bodies of Rawat and his wife, Madhulika were lain side by side as government leaders and military officials paid silent tribute.
Bugles sounded as 800 soldiers gave Rawat and his wife the last military honour.
Rawat, who was India’s first Chief of defence staff was accorded a sombre 17-gun salute in line with protocol.
Earlier Rawat and Madhulika had lain in state in their residence.
According to DNAIndia, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Mansukh Mandaviya, Smriti Irani, Narendra Singh Tomar and Sarbananda Sonowal came to pay their last respects.
Many political leaders such as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Harish Singh Rawat, BJP chief JP Nadda and DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi, among others, laid a wreath on the mortal remains of the CDS and his wife.
Decked with flowers, the gun carriage then left for the Brar Square crematorium.
Many people joined the funeral procession as it preceded towards the crematorium.
They were seen along the sides of the road with banners and national flags and chanted “Jab tak suraj chaand rahega, Bipin ji ka naam rahega”.
Rawat and wife’s funeral pyre was lit by family members at the crematorium.