The ministers were all there but closest to O.P. Jindal as his body was carried to the pyre were the thousands from his hometown who saw him as a proud son of the soil. The farmer who rose to industrialist and state Power Minister had put the town on the global map as he was counted among the 1,000 wealthiest men of the world.The bier wound its way through the main markets of the town that remained closed as a mark of respect amid a sea of humanity that surged till the very end. A thousand hands shot up to help as his four sons brought out his body, wrapped in a Tricolour, from Jindal House. Police personnel with their weapons reversed led the procession as slogans of ‘‘O.P. Jindal amar rahe’’ rent the air and people showered flowers on the body from rooftops.His sons — Prithviraj, Rattan, Sajjan and MP Naveen Jindal — broke down as his body was placed on the sandalwood pyre. CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda stood by to console them. Senior leaders struggled to pay their respects as locals swarmed around the body. ‘‘Every single person of his native village Nalwa is here to bid him farewell. He’d developed the village single-handed,’’ said Om Prakash, a villager.Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Industries Minister Kamal Nath, Minister for Poverty alleviation Kumari Selja and party in-charge of Haryana affairs Janardhan Dwivedi accompanied the funeral procession. Former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, state Congress chief Bhajan Lal, state BJP chief Ganeshi Lal and former INLD minister Sampat Singh were also present. Hooda said Jindal’s death was a severe loss to him and his party. ‘‘He would’ve done wonders in the government with his strong business acumen,’’ said Hooda. Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said Jindal was a self-made man. Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister Venod Sharma remembered Jindal as a man of vision.
