Last rites of poet Gopal Das Neeraj performed today

The last rites of legendary Hindi poet Gopal Das Neeraj were held here with full state honours today.

Rich tributes were paid to him at Aligarh Muslim University by the Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor and other prominent writers and poets with whom he was associated after he shifted to this city in the mid-1950s. Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary were also present along with senior officials.

Mansoor described Neeraj as an epitome of India's rich heritage of harmony, tolerance and pluralism. The vice-chancellor said that by willing to donate his body to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, the eminent poet had shown the way even after his death. "His death has left a void that will never be filled," he added.

Urdu writer-professor Shafey Kidwai said Neeraj had a long emotional connect with this institution, as the Bollywood movie 'Nai Umar Ki Nai Fasal' -- the first film for which he penned the lyrics -- was largely shot on the AMU campus.

It was this film that carried the song 'Karvan Guzar Gaya, Gubar Dekhte Rahe', which took Neeraj to dizzy heights, not just in the world of poetry, but also in the world of film music.

Kidwai said a singular feature of Neeraj's poetry was that he wrote in a language which could rightly be described as Hindustani, because it included a large portion of purely Urdu words as well as Hindi.

Neeraj was born in Etawah district on January 4, 1925. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2007. He passed away on Thursday evening at AIIMS, New Delhi, at the age of 93.