Goodbye General! Nation bids final adieu to CDS General Bipin Rawat with full military honours
Highlights
- Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat was cremated with full military honours on Friday
- The General was given a 17-gun salute as both his daughters lit the pyre of their parents
- The General, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 other defence personnel were killed in a chopper crash
General Bipin Rawat Cremation: Chants of 'Vande Mataram' and 'General Rawat amar rahe' reveberated in the air as gun carriage decked up with flowers carried a casket wrapped in a tricolour left 3 Kamraj Marg for Barar Square. A huge crowd of people lined up on both sides of the dedicated road route to bid final goodbye to the top Army General. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat was cremated with full military honours on Friday, two days after the tragic helicopter crash that killed 12 others, including his wife Madhulika Rawat.
Millions watched on television and hundreds packed into Brar Square as the General was given a 17-gun salute. Kritika and Tarini, daughters of Bipin Rawat and Madhulika Rawat, conducted the last rites of and lit the pyre of their parents.
Nation bids final adieu to CDS General Bipin Rawat with full military honours
Along with about 800 service personnel, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain and British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis were also in attendance for the military funeral of India's first Chief of Defence Staff.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and a host of other dignitaries laid wreaths on the mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife.
Nation bids final adieu to CDS General Bipin Rawat with full military honours
General Rawat, 63, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 other defence personnel were killed when a Mi17V5 helicopter carrying them crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
The country’s first tri-services chief, General Rawat would have completed two years at the end of this month in the new post after serving as the Army chief, was on his way to Wellington when the crash took place on a hilly, wooded area near Coonoor. The lone survivor Group Captain Varun Singh is undergoing treatment in Bengaluru.
(With inputs from agencies)
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