Shiromani Akali Dal patron Parkash Singh Badal's was cremated with full state honours on Thursday at his ancestral village of Badal in Punjab's Muktsar district. Badal breathed his last at the 95 on Tuesday at a private hospital in Mohali. He was admitted to the hospital a week back and was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Friday. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal lit the pyre at the funeral with thousands of mourners in attendance including leaders across the political spectrum.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gahlot, Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, and former Haryana Cheief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda paid their last respects.
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, senior BJP leader Tarun Chugh, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, and former union minister Praful Patel paid homage to the former chief minister.
Congress leader Deepender Hooda, Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and former Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also attended the last rites.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Punjab Assembly Speaker Sardar Kultar Singh Sandhwan were also among the mourners.
The five-time Punjab Chief Minister was hospitalised in June last year following a complaint of gastritis and bronchial asthma.
In February 2022, he was taken to a private hospital in Mohali for a post-Covid health check-up during which he had undergone cardiac and pulmonary check-ups too. He was admitted to a hospital in Ludhiana after testing positive for Covid-19 in January 2022. The SAD patriarch was advised by doctors to opt for regular precautionary check-ups, especially after contracting Covid-19.
The mortal remains of the veteran politician were kept at the Chandigarh office of Shiromani Akali Dal for paying last respects from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on Wednesday following which they were taken to his native village.
Security arrangements were made ahead of the last rites in Sri Muktsar Sahib.
Leaders across political lines condoled the death of Badal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached Chandigarh to pay his last respects, termed his demise as a “personal loss” and said he was a colossal figure of Indian politics who contributed greatly to the nation.
Parkash Singh Badal was born on December 8, 1927 in Muktsar. He was elected as the village sarpanch at the age of 20, as a MLA for the first time in 1957 and he became the chief minister for the first time in 1970 at the age of 43.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government has declared national mourning on Wednesday and Thursday following Badal's demise. Badal also served as a Union Minister in the late 1970s.