CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal Patriarch, Prakash Singh Badal was laid to rest with full state honors on Thursday at a family’s agricultural land where a raised platform was erected for performing the last rites. A team of 30 police officials paid the last tribute to the SAD chief by firing 3 times- 90 rounds in the air. The mortal remains of Prakash Singh Badal were wrapped in the national flag as it embarked on its last journey in a flower-decked trailer.
Sukbhir Singh Badal and Manpreet Singh Badal lit the pyre of Father Prakash as the family bid a teary goodbye to their beloved one.
Punjab CM and Governor Banwarilal Purohit reached the cremation grounds to attend the last rites of the patron. Scores of political dignitaries and party supporters apart from the Punjab CM flooded Badal’s village in Muktsar district to pay last respects. Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah visited the SAD stalwart’s village to pay their last respects. People from all walks of life paid tribute to the five times CM of Punjab.
The antim darshan of the SAD patriarch was scheduled today between 9 am-12noon. Prakash Singh Badal breathed his last at Mohali’s Fortis Hospital on April 25th nine days after being admitted there with breathing problems.
The veteran leader who served as the youngest CM of the state at 43 was born on December 8th, 1927. The grand old man of Punjab politics first became chief minister in 1970, heading a coalition government that did not complete its term. He served as chief minister in 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-2017. In 2008, Badal handed over the reins of the SAD, which he had headed from 1995, to son Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also became the deputy chief minister under him.