Haridwar. The ashes of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar were ritually immersed in the Ganga in Haridwar on Thursday. National President of Nationalist Youth Congress, Dheeraj Sharma reached Haridwar with the ashes urn and immersed the ashes at the Ganga Ghat amid Vedic chanting. During this, many senior and youth leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were present, although no member of the Pawar family attended the program.
According to NCP leaders, this immersion in Haridwar is the beginning of a wider Asthi Kalash Yatra. The yatra will visit various religious places and holy rivers in the country, where party workers and supporters will pay tribute to Ajit Pawar. Party sources say that this Ashti Kalash Yatra will pass through about 14 states and immersion and condolence meetings will be organized at every place as per the rules and regulations.
In a statement issued by the Nationalist Congress Party, it has been said that the decision to immerse the ashes of Ajit Pawar in major rivers and important religious places of the country has been taken so that his supporters and well-wishers spread across the country can pay tribute to their beloved leader. After Haridwar, Asthi Kalash Yatra will reach Prayagraj Sangam in Uttar Pradesh and Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi. After this the yatra will go to Patna, the capital of Bihar, where condolence meetings and prayer programs will be organised. Further this journey will pass through Punjab, Jammu-Kashmir, Jharkhand and other states and reach Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. According to NCP leaders, during this period, tribute meetings, prayer programs and public relations events will be organized in more than 14 states.
It is noteworthy that Ajit Pawar died in a chartered plane crash at Baramati Airport in Maharashtra on January 28. The accident occurred when the plane fell short of the runway during landing and caught fire. In this horrific accident, a total of five people including Ajit Pawar, two pilots, a female crew member and a security personnel lost their lives. Due to this accident, there was a wave of mourning in Maharashtra politics.