Assam bade an emotional farewell to its beloved former chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday, as his final rites were performed with full state honours at the Nabagraha Cremation ground in Guwahati. Amid the chanting of hymns, preceded by a gun salute and band played by the Assam Police, the state’s longest serving chief minister’s mortal remains were consigned to flames by his son Gaurav Gogoi.
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Gaurav, a Lok Sabha MP, wearing the traditional ‘chelleng sador’ (a shawl) and dhoti along with a face mask, lit the pyre after performing the rituals. Gogoi’s wife Dolly, daughter Chandrima, daughter-in- law Elizabeth and other family members placed sandalwood on the pyre before it was lit by Gaurav.
The 84-year old three-time chief minister, twice Union minister and six-time Lok Sabha MP, died on Monday following a nearly four-month battle with COVID-19 and related complications.