Protagonist MNREGA scheme, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh cremated with full state honours in BiharFormer Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a founding member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal who enjoyed respect across the political spectrum, was cremated at his native village here on Monday with full state honours.
Singh (74) had breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi on Sunday, quite every week after being admitted to the ICU with post-COVID complications.
Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav and state ministers Neeraj Kumar and Jai Kumar Singh were among the host of dignitaries present at the ghat here along the river Ganges, about 55 kms from the Vaishali district headquarters of Hajipur, where the deceased leaders younger son Shashi Shekhar lit the pyre .
Elder son Satya Prakash Singh was present on the occasion.
People joining the funeral procession including those lending shoulders to the arthi (bier) were in mask in sight of COVID pandemic.
Loud chants of “Raghuvansh babu amar rahein” rent through the air amid gun salutes and guard of honour.
Fellow villagers who wont to fondly call him by the name “Brahma Baba” for his simple lifestyle and plain speaking were saddened by demise of the mathematics professor-turned- politician.
Singhs body was delivered to his native district within the morning, during a huge procession that commenced from Patna where the mortal remains had arrived the previous night.
Tejashwi Yadav, RJD supremo Lalu Prasads younger son and heir , had rushed to the airport where an outsized number of the late leaders admirers had reached to pay their deference .
“You left us alone”, exclaimed a visibly shaken Yadav, whose meteoric rise within the party and his alleged indifference towards the veteran leader, four decades his senior and an in depth aide of his father, had led Singh to step down because the RJDs national vice chairman a few of months ago.
He announced his exit from the party, through a letter he penned while on the single bed , last week.
Yadav later also rushed to the state assembly where tributes were paid to Singh, who had been a member of both houses of the legislature for multiple terms.
Prominent among those that had received the assembly were Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.
Before being delivered to his native village, Singhs body was taken to the “Vaishali Garh” a historical place which is claimed to be the seat of power of the worlds first republic besides having a prominent place within the lifetime of Buddha .
