Vajpayee’s ashes immersed in Ganga at Haridwar

Haridwar, August 19 

The ashes of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were on Sunday immersed in the Ganga at Har ki Pauri here by his family members amidst chanting of Vedic hymns with thousands joining in as the urn was carried in a flower-bedecked truck.

Led by senior BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the convoy with the urn moved from the Bhalla college ground to Har ki Pauri through a narrow 2-km stretch. Other top leaders who were in attendance included Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat. 

The urn was carried by Vajpayee’s foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya accompanied by the former Prime Minister’s adopted daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya. A platform was especially erected at Brahmakund below the stairs leading to the river where the rituals were performed under the supervision of ‘teerth purohit’ Akhilesh Shastri. The rituals lasted around 20 minutes with a huge crowd at the ghats on either side of the river. — PTI