After the Defence Minister laid a wreath, and the last bugle played out, the cremation ceremonies were conducted by General Rawat’s daughters, Kritika and Tarini, who lit the funeral pyre.

There were chants of “Jab tak suraj chand rahega, General Rawat ka naam rahega (Gen Rawat will be remembered as long as the sun and moon exist)”.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was among the last to pay his tributes to General Rawat who was cremated with full military honours, including a 17-gun salute.

Rajnath tweeted: “Rawat devoted his life to serving and protecting our nation. India will remember his courage, valour and patriotism. Farewell General!”

After the Defence Minister laid a wreath, and the last bugle played out, the cremation ceremonies were conducted by General Rawat’s daughters, Kritika and Tarini, who lit the funeral pyre.

The ruling dispensation was represented, among others, by: BJP president JP Nadda, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and former chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat, Haryana and UP Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Yogi Adityanath, and Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharama, S Jaishankar, Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

Apart from Rahul Gandhi, non-NDA parties were represented, among others, by: Mallikarjun Kharge, Kodikunnil Suresh and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat (Congress), Kanimozhi (DMK), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), Sushmita Dev and Jawahar Sircar (TMC) — and some of the suspended Rajya Sabha MPs, including Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and TMC’s Dola Sen.

Source: The Indian Express