Rao’s body taken to Hyderabad, PM to attend last rites

The body of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was taken to the AICC headquarters this morning for Congressmen to pay their homage to a man...

The body of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was taken to the AICC headquarters this morning for Congressmen to pay their homage to a man who had been with the party for 60 years. Rao will be cremated in Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the last rites.

The body, which was brought from Rao’s residence, was kept outside the main gate of 24, Akbar Road and not taken inside the Congress office. The AICC gates remained closed and chairs were placed on the pavement for the leaders. Even as the PM and Sonia Gandhi and other ministers bid farewell to a man whose decisions led to a paradigm shift in Indian politics, a Congressman from Andhra Pradesh remarked agitatedly: ‘‘They kept him out of here when he was alive, now they are not even allowing his body to go in.’’

Later, the Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel explained the party’s decision, by saying the Army had decided that the body could not be removed from the gun carriage and put back again. ‘‘Till 1 am, we were here trying to figure out with the Army personnel whether there was a way of bringing in the gun carriage but it could not be done.’’

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The PM’s plane to Hyderabad carried around 40 of Narasimha Rao’s relatives and some of the Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh like Union Ministers Jaipal Reddy and Renuka Chowdhury.

Ten of Rao’s immediate family members travelled with the body in the Air Force plane. Prithviraj Chavan, MOS PMO, who is overseeing all the arrangements also went with them and so did the two leaders—Motilal Vora and Ashok Gehlot— who are going to represent the AICC at the funeral.

No senior leader accompanied the body from Rao’s residence to the AICC headquarters. As the body was leaving 9, Motilal Nehru Marg, only Prithviraj Chavan, Selja, and M.S. Bitta could be seen at his residence.

Some of Rao’s sons and daughters had wanted the funeral to be held in New Delhi. They felt it would be a fitting farewell to someone who was a national leader. Having it in Hyderabad would make it a regional affair, they said.

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Rao was a national leader who had steered the country at a crucial moment in its history. He took over the reins of government when the economy was in shambles, the world had become unipolar, caste and communal conflict divided the country and the Punjab and Kashmir agitations were raging. Within two years, he had defused the situation on all fronts.

But as Defence Minister Pranab Mukherji and Home Minister Shivraj Patil were finalizing the funeral plans at Rao’s residence on Thursday evening, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy called up and insisted the funeral of the “Telugu bidda” should be held in the state capital.