CDS Bipin Rawat cremated with full military honour
New Delhi: The final rites of India’s first chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat were performed at the Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment on Friday.
General Rawat was killed along with his wife Madhulika and 11 other military personnel in a chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu’s Niligiris district on Wednesday. the last rites was performed by daughters of Late CDS Bipin Rawat.
Earlier, amid chants of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘General Rawat amar rahe’, the funeral procession of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat left his official residence for the last rites at the Brar Square crematorium.
Military personnel drawn from all the three services marched towards the streets as drummers played along in tribute to India’s first Chief of Defence Staff.
As the mortal remains of General Rawat, carried in a casket wrapped in a tricolour, was moved to a gun carriage, decorated with flowers, people showered petals and raised slogans in his praise.
As India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Rawat was tasked to bring in theatre command and jointness among the three services, and he was pushing these with a tough approach and specific timelines in the last two years.
The mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife were kept at their official residence here before cremation, to allow people to pay respects.
General Rawat’s two daughters performed traditional rituals before the caskets of their parents were moved to the gun carriage.
Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and a host of other dignitaries, among others on Friday laid wreaths on the mortal remains of General Rawat and his wife.