Bhattarai cremated with state honor

KATHMANDU, March 6: Former Prime Minister and founding member of Nepali Congress (NC) Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who died on Friday night, was cremated with full state honors with an army contingent offering the guard of honor and 13-gun salute on Sunday. The body of the 87-year-old was consigned to flames at Pashupati Aryaghat in the afternoon.

His nephew Pramod Bhattarai, the youngest son of late Bhattarai´s elder brother Gopal Prasad, lit the funeral pyre as Bhattarai never married. Pramod will observe death ritual as per Hindu tradition for 13 days.


Bhattarai´s death marks the end of all founding leaders of the country´s grand old party, NC. Another first generation leader of party Girija Prasad Koirala had died in March last year.

Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, his cabinet colleagues, Speaker Subash Nembang, Deputy Speaker Purna Kumari Subedi, Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, other ministers, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic) Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Pashupati SJB Rana, top bureaucrats and chiefs as well as senior officials of security agencies, among others, had reached Aryaghat to attend the funeral ceremony.

Thousands of NC cadres, well-wishers and commoners thronged Aryaghat to attend the funeral ceremony. While thousands of people joined in the funeral procession that started from Dasharath Stadium, thousands lined up on either side of the road joined the procession as the funeral procession was being led to Aryaghat.



The procession that began at 2 pm from Dasharath Stadium at Tripureshwar took almost two hours to reach Aryaghat. The procession went past New Road gate, Bir Hospital, Ratnapark, Bagbazar, Dilli Bazar, Old Baneshwar and Gaushala before finally converging at Pashupati Aryaghat.

Nepal Army personnel escorted the convoy carrying Bhattarai´s body with somber music. NC President Sushil Koirala, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, the party´s parliamentary leader Ram Chandra Paudel, late Bhattarai´s personal aide Amita Kapali and MPRF-D leader Sharat Singh Bhandari were on the vehicle carrying Bhattarai´s body.

NC President Koirala, senior leader Deuba and Paudel had jointly draped Bhattarai´s body with the party´s flag before cremation at Aryaghat.



Earlier, the body of Bhattarai was kept at Dasharath Stadium from 8 am to 2 pm where leaders, diplomats and tens of thousands of commoners paid their last tributes to the saint-statesman. Prime Minister Khanal draped Bhattarai´s body with the national flag while a contingent of Nepal Army offered salute as a mark of state honors. President Dr Ram Baran Yadav had reached Dasharath Stadium to offer Bhattarai his floral tributes. Chiefs of constitutional bodies, top bureaucrats, leaders of various political parties, civil society leaders, diplomats and commoners had paid their final tributes to late the saint leader at the stadium. People formed serpentine queues around the stadium to pay tributes.

Bhattarai´s body was also briefly taken to the party headquarters in Sanepa from Bandegaun, Lalitpur, before bringing it to the Dasharath Stadium in the morning.

After his death at 11:26 pm Friday, Bhattarai´s body was taken to his Ashram at Bandegaun, Lalitpur from Norvic Escort Hospital, Kathmandu. He was suffering from heart and lungs problems for 15 years and kidney problem for 10 years.

An emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday had announced Sunday as public holiday and three-day national mourning to grieve the death of the two-time prime minister. National flags at all government offices and Nepal´s diplomatic missions abroad will be lowered to half mast for three days.

The NC has also decided to mourn Bhattarai´s death for 13 days. The party won´t organize any formal functions during the period.

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