LUCKNOW: The heavy downpour and tight security could not dampen the spirit and enthusiasm of scores of people who had gathered at Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport to pay their respects to former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose ashes were immersed in Gomti on Thursday.
A huge crowd of supporters had gathered at the airport as early as Thursday midnight and surrounded the domestic terminal area.
The 400 metre stretch from Kanpur Road to the airport’s domestic terminal was packed with supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party and Vajpayee.
Chanting slogans like ‘Atal tum amar ho’, ‘Bharat ka poot amar sapoot’ and ‘ Bharat mata ki jai’, some of the supporters had even gathered outside the VVIP gate of the runway, from where the truck containing the urns with ashes of the late ex-PM was taken out, and showered flowers.
The moment the aircraft carrying the urns landed at the Amausi airport landed at 1.15pm, people welcomed it by showering rose petals and shouting slogans like ‘ Aa gaya dharti ka lal’ and ‘Jab tak sooraj chand rahega, Atal tumhara naam rahega.’ The urns were brought to the city by Union minsiter
Rajnath Singh, who was greeted by governor
Ram Naik, chief minister
Yogi Adityanath and other state ministers at the airport.
Photos of the former Prime Minister with his famous lines ‘Main jee bhar jiya, main wapas aunga’ towered above heads, reflecting how revered he was. At around 1.36pm, when the truck came out of the airport it was surrounded by teams of National Security Guards, Central Industrial Security Force and police.
As the convoy moved towards Kanpur Road, security personnel and the public had to manoeuvre their way through waterlogged pathways on the airport premises to move forward.
Around 80 VVIP vehicles of governor, chief minister and other ministers, and bureaucrats thronged the airport premises.
People had gathered as early Thursday midnight to participate in the kalash yatra