Muktsar: Parkash Singh Badal was cremated on Thursday at his ancestral village in Punjab’s Muktsar district with thousands of mourners paying their last respects to the Akali stalwart and five-time chief minister.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal lit the pyre at the funeral held with full state honours.
Leaders cutting across party lines, including BJP president J P Nadda, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, visited Badal village to pay their last respects.
#WATCH | BJP President JP Nadda today paid last respects to Shiromani Akali Dal patron #ParkashSinghBadal at Lambi in Punjab pic.twitter.com/xyk83v1LgN
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) April 27, 2023
#WATCH | NCP Chief Sharad Pawar pays last respects to Shiromani Akali Dal patron #ParkashSinghBadal at Lambi village in Punjab pic.twitter.com/tlZZfxyvrV
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) April 27, 2023
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Chandigarh to pay his last respects, termed his demise as a “personal loss” and said he was a colossal figure of Indian politics who contributed greatly to the nation.
Parkash Singh Badal was born on December 8, 1927 in Muktsar. He was elected as the village sarpanch at the age of 20, as a MLA for the first time in 1957 and he became the chief minister for the first time in 1970 at the age of 43.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government has declared national mourning on Wednesday and Thursday following Badal’s demise.
(With Agency Inputs)