Uttarakhand: Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ashes immersed in Har-Ki-Pauri in Haridwar

New Delhi, Aug 19: A huge crowd converged at Uttarakhand's Har ki Pauri to bid final farewell to their beloved leader and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as his ashes were immersed in the Ganga river by family members and BJP leaders.

Top party leaders including BJP president Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat, his adopted daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya and other family members of Vajpayee were present as the urn carrying his ashes was emptied into the river amid chanting of vedic hymns.

A platform had been especially raised at Brahmakund below the stairs leading into the river where the rituals were performed.

Earlier a sea of humanity followed the flower bedecked truck that carried Vajpayee's urn through the narrow 2 KM stretch in reverence to the departed leader. The convoy started from Bhalla college ground and went to Har ki Pairi with a host of party leaders and family members in attendance.

Vajpayee's son in law Ranjan Bhattacharya carried the urn through the surging crowds to Brahmakund (Har ki Pairi) where it was later immersed in the Ganga amid elaborate rituals performed by "Teerth purohits" (priests) and the cries of "Atal Ji Amar Rahein" rent the air.

Vajpayee passed away in New Delhi on Thursday at the age of 93. He was cremated with full State honours at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in the national capital on Friday.

The UP govt is also planning to raise 4 memorials in the name of former PM Vajpayee. A memorial is likely to be constructed at his ancestral village in Bateshwar in Balrampur from where he won Lok Sabha elections for the first time, Kanpur where he received higher education and Lucknow, the constituency which he represented for five consecutive terms in Lok Sabha from 1991-2009.

(with PTI inputs)