The mortal remains of former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh were taken to a stadium in the city of Aligarh. The day of Raksha Bandhan went into mourning with the death of a former BJP stalwart.
A vehicle carrying the mortal remains of Mr Kalyan Singh was taken to Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar stadium in the city.
There were slogans raised by the crowd in the stadium like ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Babuji Amar rahein’. The vehicle was accompanied by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP Chief of Uttar Pradesh.
A few hours earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP’s National President J.P Nadda, and Home Minister of India, Mr Amit Shah paid their tributes to the deceased soul.
A crowd of thousands of people gathered at the stadium in the city of Aligarh, the place where Mr Kalyan Singh was born and brought up.
The former UP CM belonged to Atrauli in Aligarh and worked as a teacher before entering politics. He even won 10 assembly polls from Atrauli out of the 11, he contested from the seat.
The cremation of Mr Kalyan Singh will be held in the Dibai area in Bulandshahr. It is located at a distance of 35 Km from Atrauli which was the ‘karmbhoomi’ of the BJP stalwart. He won one national assembly to Lok Sabha from Bulandshahr and 2 from Dibai into the state Assembly.
The funeral began at 9 am in Dibai after a small break at Atrauli. The last rites took place after 3 pm. It was expected that the top leaders of BJP and a crowd of approximately 5 lakh people might gather for the cremation. It was also planned that the body of the former Mr Singh will be bathed in River Ganga before the final rites.
Mr Kalyan Singh died on Saturday, aged 89 held the Chief Minister office of Uttar Pradesh twice from the Saffron party.
He took his last breath at the Sanjay Gandhi – Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences. Mr Singh was admitted on July 4 with a critical health condition and he died of Multiple organ failure.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences for the former CM. He called him a grassroots-level leader who worked for the betterment of the backward classes of the people in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The President Mr Ramnath Kovid and BJP President also paid their condolences to the veteran leader. Mr Kalyan Singh also held the post of Rajasthan Governor in 2014 and the position of Himachal Pradesh Governor.
The BJP also campaigned for the election of 2017 of UP while taking reminders of administration, law, and order from the tenure of Mr Kalyan Singh.
He was the OBC face of BJP who was the CM of the state during the controversial demolition of Babri Masjid. His term as a Chief Minister was in the spotlight with his support to the Ram Mandir Movement that became a big issue in the political scenario of UP and gradually the whole country.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid built during the Mughal era was conducted by the crowd of ‘karsevaks’ who demanded the construction of Ram Mandir.
Mr Kalyan Singh was born into a Lodh Rajput family at Atrauli in Aligarh (1932). He grew up being inspired by the BJP-RSS ideology and won his first State Assembly election as a member of Jan Sangh in 1967.
He, later on, joined the BJP and made the Saffron Party win the state elections within 10-12 years of its formation. He is often referred to over the demolition of Babri Masjid under his tenure. He even resigned from the post of CM over it.
He publicly expressed in a public speech that he had no guilt over the demolition. He even said that he would never sanction the authorities to fire bullets on the mob of karsevaks.
This speech received big cheering from the crowd at that place. He was marked as an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case and last year appeared before the CBI Court.
Mr Kalyan Singh stated that he was innocent and his government tried his best to give security to Babri Masjid with a 3-tier security system.
Kalyan Singh was acquitted in the case last year by a special CBI Court. He was found not guilty along with other senior BJP leaders Mr Lal Krishna Advani, Uma Bharati, etc.
He was a big face of the Ram-Janmabhoomi Temple case and also modified the Madal Politics issue in the 1990s. The Former member of the BJP shared a good and bad relationship with the saffron party.
He left BJP after his controversial statements for Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee (then PM) and rejoined in 2004. He left for the second time in 2009 over some difference in ticket distribution by the BJP and Joined Samajwadi Party headed by Mr Mulayam Singh.
In 2014, Kalyan Singh contested as an Independent Member of Parliament. He again returned to BJP after sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kanpur at a public rally. After ending his term as a Governor last year he again joined the BJP.
The PM expressed his condolences and spoke to the son of former UP CM, Mr Rajveer Singh who is an MP From Etah on call.
The Prime Minister addressed the former BJP member as a person deeply rooted and committed to his values and took pride in the rich traditions.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed him as an able administrator and a man of ideals. The president called him a person who had a magical connection with the masses. The vice president Mr Venkaiah Nadu described him as an exemplary leader.
The UP CM has announced a 3-day state mourning and a holiday on Monday (the day of his cremation) in the state. The Home Minister said the contribution of Mr Singh to the Nation will be indebted.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that he has lost his big brother from the state of UP. The Congress party head of UP, Samajwadi Party leader Mr Akhilesh Yadav and BSP leader also expressed his condolences to the death of Mr Kalyan Singh.
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