M A I N   N E W S

Thousands bid adieu to Bansi Lal
Raman Mohan
Tribune News Service

Golagarh ( Bhiwani ), March 29
The mortal remains of the architect of modern Haryana, former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, were today consigned to flames at this dusty hamlet where he was born almost eight decades ago. He had passed away around midnight in a Delhi hospital.

The pyre was lit by his elder son Ranbir Singh Mahendra , a Congress legislator from Mundhal in Bhiwani district in the presence of Bansi Lal’s sons-in-law, grandchildren, close relatives and a host of dignitaries.

A police posse presented reversed arms and buglers sounded the last post as part of the state funeral accorded to the former head of the State government.

The cremation was delayed because of the solar eclipse. The last rites began about 15 minutes after the eclipse was over. Within minutes flames engulfed the remains of the man who ruled Haryana in its formative years after the state was carved out of Punjab and earned him the sobriquet of loh purush (ironman) because of his strong will, love for discipline and matter of fact approach to administration.

Thousands of admirers who thronged the village to pay their last respects rented the air with slogans of Bansi Lal amar rahe . Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda appeared crestfallen as he watched flames consume the remains of his one time mentor. His father Ranbir Singh Hooda was also present. Haryana Congress chief Bhajan Lal was among the mourners.

Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law, Haryana Forest Minister Kiran Chaudhary cut short her stay in Melbourne to reach here in time for the cremation. She was not expected back till tomorrow night. Ironically, she was here less than a year ago for her husband Surinder Singh’s cremation who died in a helicopter crash on March 31 last year.

Earlier, the body was brought here from Bhiwani in a motorcade. Men, women and children lined up outside their villages all along the 30 km route to have a last glimpse of the man who had done them proud over the past more than 40 years.

Earlier, the body was brought here from Bhiwani in a motorcade. Men, women and children lined up outside their villages all along the 30 km route to have a last glimpse of the man who had done them proud over the past more than 40 years.

Earlier, several senior Congress leaders paid their last respects to Bansi Lal at his Bhiwani residence. They included Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Moti Lal Vohra and Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai . Most of the Haryana Congress legislators, MPs and Haryana ministers also paid their last respects.

Bansi Lal had four stints as chief minister of Haryana . His first term, also his longest, was from May 22, 1968, to November 30, 1975. He occupied the high office for the second time from1972 to 1975. He followed up with two more tenures from July 5, 1985, to June 19, 1987, and from May 11, 1996, to July 23, 1999.

He was a close associate of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi during the Emergency. In those turbulent years he remained the Defence Minister. He was condemned to ignominy at end of the Emergency during which period he was accused of committing excesses on the people of Haryana . But he rose like a phoenix to re-establish himself.

He set up his own political outfit the Haryana Vikas Party in1996 and won the Assembly elections the same year. He returned to the Congress fold just before the Lok Sabha polls at the insistence of his son Surinder Singh whose untimely death last year left him heartbroken.

The Congress leader was part of the well known Lal trio of Haryana’s politics that also included Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal.