Vajpayee's ashes immersed in Assam's Brahmaputra, Barak rivers

Ashes of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were today simulteneously immersed in the mighty Brahmaputra and Barak rivers in Assam's Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Dhubri and Silchar.

Amidst recital of all faith prayers, one of the urns was taken in a specially prepared boat for immersion of the ashes in the midst of Brahmaputra with vedic rites by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and other senior party leaders.

The immersion took place in the Brahmaputra adjacent to Lachit ghat in Guwahati with "Atalji Amar rahe" slogan ranting the air.

The four urns containing the ashes of Bharat Ratna Vajpayee were brought to Assam yesterday by Dass from New Delhi after receiving them from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party national president Amit Shah at a function in Delhi on April 21.

After being kept overnight in BJP state headquarters office at Hengrabari here,the urns were placed in the opposite Karbi Field for people to pay tribute to the former Prime Minister.

The procession to immerse the ashes in Guwahati began at aound 1 pm passing through R G Baruah Road, Chandmari and Latasil playground where the urn, received by Chief Minister Sonowal at the Airport from Dass and taken on a specially decorated truck, was kept for people to pay homage to the departed leader who had passed away on August 16 in Delhi.

From there the Chief Minister, his cabinet colleagues, party president, MPs and MLAs, party leaders and workers along with people walked behind the truck carrying the urn the two km distance to Lachit Ghat for immersing the ashes in the Brahmaputra.

The three other urns sent to different parts of the state were also simultaneously immersed with that in Guwahati.

One of the urns was taken to Dibrugarh by Minister Tapan Gogoi, another by minister Bhabesh Kalita to Dhubri for immersion in Brahmaputra flowing across the state, while the third was taken by minister Parimal Suklabaidhya to Silchar for the ashes to be one with the other major river Barak.

Sonowal said four urns were sent to Assam as Vajpayee had a special bond with the state and North East region contributing for their development.