The Hindu : National : Nation bids farewell to war hero Aurora

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Friday, May 06, 2005

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National

Nation bids farewell to war hero Aurora

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The nation on Thursday bade farewell to Jagjit Singh Aurora, hero of the 1971 war. President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, led the nation in condoling his death.

Mr. Kalam, in a message, said: "Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Aurora was a highly decorated military officer who served the nation with great distinction in various positions. He was a soldier of that unique generation who saw service in the old British Indian Army followed by the transition to the Indian Army after Independence." Mr. Shekhawat described Gen. Aurora's stint in the Army as a "saga of valour and sacrifice for the cause of the motherland."

The mortal remains of Gen. Aurora, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, were cremated at the Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment with full military honours. A military guard offered a reversed gun salute after firing three rounds in the air. The bugle then sounded the "last post."

It was followed by the sounding of the rouse, signalling that life goes on. The pyre was lit by his son Kiranjit Singh Rana. Minister of State for Defence B. K. Handique, Marshall of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the former Prime Minister, I. K. Gujral, and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sushma Swaraj and V. K. Malhotra placed wreaths.

"A gallant soldier"

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister visited Gen. Aurora's residence in Friends Colony to pay his last respects. Signing the visitor's book, Dr. Singh wrote: "He was a gallant solider, a great patriot and true Sikh.'' Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi also paid tributes. "Gen. Aurora fired the imagination of all of us during the liberation of what then is East Pakistan," she wrote.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the President's Military Secretary also laid wreaths on the body.For Gen. Aurora's family, friends and colleagues who came to pay their last respects at the crematorium, it was to say bid goodbye to a rare person who inspired others.

"I was his aide de camp during his most hectic and important periods of his career in the Bangladesh War. We shared a father and son relationship. I knew him personally, professionally and socially. He was a professional, a brilliant strategist and a true son of India," said Lieutenant General Mohinder Singh. "I feel very sad. He was the father of the Punjab Regiment that he led in 1971," Brigadier Kuldip Singh said.

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