Vajpayee's ashes immersed in rivers across country

From the Gomti in Lucknow which sent him to the Lok Sabha five times to Imphal river in Manipur, the ashes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee were immersed today in rivers across the country.

At Jhulelal Vatika on the banks of Gomti, his family members were part of the gathering that heard leaders from across parties pay homage to the former prime minister who died on August 16.

The main immersion ritual was performed by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's daughter Namita at Har-ke-Pauri in Haridwar on August 19.

Yesterday, the urns carrying portions of the ashes were also handed over in Delhi to BJP leaders from the states by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

In some states, the 'asthi kalash' from Delhi was divided into several smaller urns for the ashes to be immersed in major rivers.

Many immersion ceremonies were carried out today, but more will follow tomorrow and some even later.

The plan to immerse the ashes in about 100 major rivers countrywide drew some criticism from the opposition Congress, which accused the BJP of trying to make political capital out of Vajpayee's death.

In Uttar Pradesh, while the main event today took place in Lucknow, the Yogi Adityanath government has announced plans to take the ashes to almost all the districts in the state.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh led in paying homage to Vajpayee in Lucknow, where the ceremony was also attended by SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav.

He said India's global standing went up when Vajpayee was prime minister, and also recalled the Pokhran nuclear tests and the Kargil victory during his term.

In West Bengal, the ashes was divided into five urns, one of them headed for Gangasagar where the river joins the sea.

The main immersion ceremony in Madhya Pradesh will be on August 25 at Hoshangabad, about 60 km from capital Bhopal, where the ashes will be immersed in the Narmada.

The ashes will also be immersed in Parvati, Kshipra, Tapti, Son, Betwa, Pench, Sindh and Ken rivers in this BJP-ruled state.

In Manipur Chief Minister Chief Minister N Biren Singh immersed the ashes in Imphal river.

In Odisha, the ashes were immersed in the Bay of Bengal at Puri, after prayers in the presence of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other BJP leaders.

Four urns were kept at the party office in Uttarakhand capital Dehradun where party leaders and other people kept streaming in throughout the day to pay homage.

The urns will be taken to Badrinath, Rishikesh, Bageshwar and Haldwani tomorrow for the immersion of the ashes.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was present when the ashes were immersed in the holy Pushkar Sarovar near Ajmer.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar attended the ceremony at Pehowa. Another urn was sent to Hathnikund Barrage in Yamunanagar.