Mumbai bids farewell

On Mahajan’s final journey, thousands join grieving family, party

Three gunshots, this time from each of a platoon of Maharashtra police personnel in ceremonial dress, sealed the end of the journey for 57-year-old Pramod Mahajan at his funeral with full state honours.

As the family grieved silently at the Shivaji Park crematorium in central Mumbai, it was a day of poignant scenes: a troubled top brass of the BJP mulling a cruel blow, thousands of eager party workers clamouring for a last glimpse of a leader often accused of missing a mass base and a young man suddenly finding himself in the full glare of scores of cameras.

At 1.30 pm, an ashen-faced Rahul Mahajan lit the funeral pyre, still in jeans and a white shirt, shoulders slumped and eyes vacant,

the 29-year-old’s composure intact.

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The rites complete, he hugged sister Poonam — Mahajan’s wife Rekha stayed away — and patted her shoulder gently, consoling her even as Mahajan’s brother Prakash and brother-in-law Gopinath Munde broke down again.

At 12.30 pm, as spokesperson Vinod Tawde announced on the public address system that the funeral procession had arrived at the gate of the crematorium, a buzz went through the 3,000-strong crowd crammed into the premises. Activists jostled, some clambered on trees, and it was 20 minutes before the casket was placed on a platform for the dignitaries to pay their last respects.

Shiv Sena rebels Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray sat alongside each other in the VVIP section.

Among those who placed wreaths were RSS chief KS Sudershan, Union Minister Sharad Pawar, NDA convenor George Fernandes and Mahajan’s party colleagues Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh, a sobbing Venkaiah Naidu, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states, as well as Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, VHP chief Praveen Togadia and Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

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The BJP called off the twin Bharat Suraksha Yatras of Leader of Opposition L K Advani and party president Rajnath Singh. Rajnath Singh, who made the announcement, said the party rally in the Capital, slated for May 10, also stood cancelled.

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