Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Governor of Rajasthan Kalyan Singh was cremated at Bansi Ghat in Bulandshahr, UP on Monday, 22 August.
Several senior leaders, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, as well as party workers and a large number of local people congregated at the cremation site for his last rites, news agency PTI reported.
The 89-year-old passed away in Lucknow Hospital on Saturday, 21 August, after being in the ICU for the past few weeks.
He was born in 1932 in Atrauli – a small town 25 km from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh – and served several terms as an MLA from there.
Many right-wing commentators on Twitter have referred to Kalyan Singh as a “Hindu Hriday Samrat” (emperor of Hindu hearts). He was also the chief minister of UP during the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December, 1992.
In light of Singh's demise, a three-day state mourning has been announced in Uttar Pradesh.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)