'Dada tumhala salaam': Maharashtra bids tearful farewell to Ajit Pawar

Lakhs of people, including political leaders, attend the funeral of the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president in Baramati

Mumbai: Amid chants of "Dada tumhala salaam", lakhs to people on Thursday bade a tearful adieu to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar, who died an a plane crash in his home town of Baramati in Pune district.

A sea of humanity poured into the streets of Baramati, a tehsil-town that Ajit Pawar nursed and developed.

Slogans like "Ajit Dada Pawar amar rahe", "Dada tumhi parat ya", and "Amar rahe, amar rahe, Ajit Dada amar rahe" rent the air as tears rolled down the eyes of people, including top politicians of Maharashtra, during the funeral at the grounds of Vidya Pratishthan complex, the Pawar-family owned education, innovation and research institution.

Pawar (66) and four others, including both pilots, flight attendant and his security personnel, died after his chartered plane, a Learjet 45, crashed on Wednesday morning amid poor visibility conditions well short of a tabletop runway at the Baramati airfield, located 10 kms away from Baramati town.

Many people were seen weeping, wailing and breaking down during the funeral procession.

People including top leaders offered condolences to Pawar-family patriarch and NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar and his younger brother Prataprao Pawar, the two seniormost members of the Pawar-family.

The cortege had a huge photo of Ajit Pawar with ‘Swargivya AjitDada Pawar amar rahe’ written on both the sides of the open truck which carried the mortal remains draped in the National Flag.

The national tricolour was handed over to the family before the last rites were performed and the funeral pyre was lit.

The Maharashtra government has accorded State Funeral.

The police sounded the Last Post ‘shok-shastra’ bugle followed by three rifle-shots in the air amid chants of ‘Ajit Dada…amar rahe’.

Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, was seen offering tributes to her late husband.

Ajit Pawar’s sons Parth and Jay together performed the last rites.

Parth and Jay together lit the funeral pyre even as people who had assembled broke down.

The brothers with folded hands acknowledged the condolences of the people - an emotional moment for Baramati.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP President Nitin Nabin offered condolences to Pawar family.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde were in attendance.

Since the morning, Baramati MP and NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule and NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar were seen making arrangements for the procession and funeral.

On Thursday morning, the mortal remains of Ajit Pawar were taken from the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Hospital in Baramati, where they were kept overnight, to his village.

The mortal remains of Ajit Pawar was taken out from his Katewadi residence in an ambulance and later the cortege headed for Vidya Prathisthan via Pakhi Chowk when thousands of people walked along it even as police played the band.

Shah, accompanied by NCP (SP) Working President Praful Patel, placed a wreath followed by Fadnavis.

Shiv Sena (UBT) head and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and MNS President Raj Thackeray and their sons, Aaditya and Amit, respectively, paid tributes to Dada.

Among those who attended the funeral include former Chief Ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, Gadkari, Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, Shinde, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe, RPI (A) President and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs Raksha Khadse, state ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Chandrashekar Bawankule, Ganesh Naik, Aditi Tatkare, Chandrakant Patil, Shivendraraje Bhosale and Chhagan Bhujbal, Kolhapur MP Shahu Chhatrapati, Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh, state BJP President Ravindra Chavan, state Congress President Harshavardhan Sapkal, former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son and actor-filmmaker Riteish Deshmukh, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Sachin Ahir.

It was an emotional moment for several of Ajit Pawar’s aides, friends and associates including state NCP President Sunil Tatkare and former ministers Jayant Patil, Rajesh Tope and Dhananjay Munde.