The Hindu : Hegde cremated with state honours

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Hegde cremated with state honours

By S. Rajendran

The body of the former Chief Minister, Ramakrishna Hegde, who died in Bangalore on Monday, being taken to his farm at Hesarghatta for the last rites on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy.

BANGALORE, JAN. 13. The former Chief Minister, Ramakrishna Hegde, who passed away here on Monday, was cremated with full state honours at his farm in Hesarghatta on the outskirts of Bangalore on Tuesday.

It was a tearful farewell with a large number of people thronging his residence and an adjoining playground where the body was kept earlier in the day. The funeral procession comprising about 400 cars and other motor vehicles took nearly two hours to reach the farm.

Bharat Hegde, son of the late leader, lit the funeral pyre a little past 3 p.m. after the State Police offered gun salute and reversed arms.

Purohits from Srirangapatna in Mandya district conducted the cremation rituals, while purohits from Uttara Kannada, home district of Ramakrishna Hegde, conducted the rituals at his residence.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the former Prime Ministers, Chandra Shekhar and H.D. Deve Gowda, the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, the Congress leaders, Shivaraj Patil, Jaipal Reddy, B. Shankaranand, M. Veerappa Moily and C.K. Jaffer Sharief, the President of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar, the State Bharatiya Janata Party President, H.N. Ananth Kumar, led the mourners and offered floral tributes before the body was consigned to flames.

Ramakrishna Hegde's wife, Shakuntala, and a brother-in-law, Subbaraya Yaji, led the family members.

The body was placed on a flower bedecked carriage and the funeral procession commenced at 12.30 p.m. His elder daughter, Mamata, clad in a white dress, sat on the carriage along with V.S. Krishna Iyer, a close associate, and M. Raghupathy, who was the Education Minister in the Hegde Cabinet. The other members of the family and the kith and kin of Ramakrishna Hegde accompanied the carriage in a bus. It was said that Ramakrishna Hegde's elder brother, Ganesh Hegde, could not make it owing to ill health.

There were a large number of people from Uttara Kannada, Bijapur, Belgaum and other districts in the procession.

The MP and Working President of the Janata Party, Vijay Mallya, and the Industries Minister, R.V. Deshpande, carried the body along with others and placed it on the pyre. Mr. Mallya also helped the purohits in placing sandalwood logs on the body before the pyre was lit.

The Government had made special arrangements for the funeral. The authorities concerned had overnight prepared the area, including the construction of a platform and seating arrangements, to accommodate such a large gathering.

It is said that Ramakrishna Hegde had identified a place in the farm to be used for the rituals, when required.

Police had taken precautionary measures, including traffic arrangements, in view of the funeral procession.

Among those who came in early in the day to pay their respects were the actor, Rajkumar, and his wife, Parvathamma.

Others who offered their respects at the residence and attended the cremation were the Chairman of the Legislative Council, B.L. Shankar, the Speaker, M.V. Venkatappa, the Minister for Agriculture, H.K. Patil, the Minister for Forests, K.H. Ranganath, the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education, B.K. Chandrashekar, the Minister for Urban Development, D.K. Shivakumar, senior political leaders, P.G.R. Sindhia, Ramesh Kumar, H.N. Nanje Gowda, K.N. Nage Gowda, B. Somashekar, M.P. Prakash, Ramesh Jigajinagi, Basavaraja Rayaraddi, Basavaraj Bommai, B.R. Patil, K.B. Shanappa, Ajay Sarnaik, B.S. Yediyurappa and Ramachandre Gowda. The film actress of yesteryears, B. Saroja Devi, the danseuse, Pratibha Prahalad, and the former Union Minister, Maneka Gandhi, also attended the cremation.

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