India bids farewell to former prime minister Manmohan Singh with state funeral

New Delhi: India on Saturday afternoon bid a sombre farewell to former prime minister Manmohan Singh as his mortal remains were consigned to flames at a State funeral with full military honours at Nigambodh Ghat here in the presence of the topmost leaders of the government and the Opposition, the King of Bhutan, foreign minister of Mauritius and diplomatic corps besides Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur, their three daughters, sons-in-law and close relatives and friends.

Singh, who died last Thursday at the age of 92, had had an eventful prime ministerial tenure for a decade from 2004 as the head of the two consecutive Congress-led UPA governments.

President Droupadi Murmu, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, gave the ceremonial farewell salute to the departed leader amid military ceremonies, including the gun-salute, before Singh's family members performed the final religious rites.


The final journey of Singh started early in the morning from his official residence with his body placed on a bedecked gun carriage pulled by a military truck with army personnel leading the march with the family, supporters and admirers of the late leader in tow. The body was first taken to the Congress headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, where it was received by the top Congress leadership and many of Singh's former cabinet colleagues besides the party workers.

All of them then proceeded to the last phase of the funeral procession towards the Nigambodh Ghat where the government leaders joined them for the final rites.