- General & Mrs. Bipin Rawat cremated
- Daughters lit the pyre
- Nation loses it’s first CDS
By Sangeeta Saxena
New Delhi. 10 December 2021. It was an emotional farewell to India’s first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat, when there mortal remains were consigned to flames at Delhi’s Brar Square Military Crematorium. The two daughters Kritika and Tarini lit the funeral pyre amidst an unprecedented show of unity by India as a whole.
The nation with moist eyes bid goodbye to a General, who gave the common masses the sense of nationalism and pride. He was the people’s General and had their faith strong in his reiteration that the nation is secure and in safe hands of its armed forces. The nation was a perfect example of unity in diversity when citizens from all the regions, speaking different languages bid teary eyed farewell to the CDS who was cremated with full military honours with slogans of Bipin Rawat Amar Rahe in the background.
Never before has the nation been seen collecting on the streets putting the forces first and delivered the last salute with a heavy heart. It was a national tribute to a national hero amidst the 17 Guns Salute. It is ultimate proof that the billion plus Indians irrespective of their location, where praying in unison for the General’s soul to rest in peace.
The popularity of General can be seen in the fact that during friday prayers in a mosque of Kashmir’s Macchal Sector the religious preacher or moulvi asked the praying gathering to ask to Allah to grant eternal peace to the departed souls of Gen Bipin Rawat and the 12 other who perished with him in the tragic helicopter crash. This shows the respect earned by the General.
Interestingly the farmers at the Ghazipur border on Friday organised a ‘havan’ to pray for Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other defence personnel who were killed in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu.
An IAF C-130J aircraft with caskets of CDS, his wife, Brig. Lidder and the 10 others reached Palam Technical Area in Delhi, on 9th December night with the mortal remains. The atmosphere was sombre but emotional as the next of kin and families were united with their dear departed for the last time, before the final rights on 10th December.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in the mourning, by personally meeting the families of the deceased and consoling them. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the NSA and the three Chiefs were all present when the caskets were got into the resting area with full honours by the respective officers and men of the force the departed soul was from. The casket of the CDS was carried by the representatives of the three forces jointly. Home Minister Amit Shah also paid his last respects and met the families.
Foreign military officials who attended the funeral were Gen Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Admiral Ravindra Chandrasiri Wijegunaratne (Retd), Former Chief of Defence Staff (his course mate at National Defence College and a dear friend), Brig Dorji Rinchen, Deputy Chief Operations Officer, Royal Bhutan Army, Suprobal Janasewashree Lt Gen Bal Krishna Karki, Chief of General Staff (equivalent to Vice Chief of Army Staff), Nepali Army and Lt Gen Waker-UZ-Zaman, Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh Army.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday mourned the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat. So did the Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain, Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell AO and Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev. Dr Lotay Tshering Prime Minister of Bhutan and Israel’s Bejamin Netanyahu also condoled Gen Rawat’s death.
Sun Weidon, Chinese Ambassador to India also tweeted his condolences on the death of General Rawat.The Pakistan Army’s spokesman took to the Twitter to say that Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Nadeem Raza and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa expressed condolences.
And the Indian Army very aptly tweeted, “Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it; it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”
