Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Funeral fit for a Leader... Yeah Right !!!

Hyderabad... it is the place I grew up and was proud to belong to this beautiful city.. capital of Andhra Pradesh...people known for their hospitality, generosity, respect and tolerance.... Hussain sagar is the heart of the city and the road around the circumference of the lake (necklace road) throbs with life on weekends... I myself have spent lots of weekend evenings on that road... but last weekend was special... December 25.. Christmas and also the chosen date for cremation of our former Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao. The same Necklace road was chosen as the stage for his cremation ( I guess according to the congress leaders, he didnot deserve a place in Delhi, I wonder why!!).

The Funeral started at around 14:00 hrs after the body was rushed ( yes I mean rushed.............. I have never seen a procession move so fast that people behind the vehicle carrying the dead body of the former Prime Minister had to run behind it.... what was the hurry?? ) to the venue. All the funeral rites were performed with all the honours.....not forgetting the absence of sonia gandhi.....


Evening 18:00 hrs... I get a call from my friend asking me to come out.. I mentioned about the funeral ceremony and expressed my doubts on roads being blocked.... he tells me that he is calling from the venue of the funeral and that there is no single soul around.... I was a bit surprised.... I got ready and met my friend at necklace road.. we spent some time there had dinner and started driving on the road...


Night 21:30 hrs we reached the venue of the funeral .... and the sight was more shocking than surprise.... literally nobody was seen anywhere near the dias.... how can someone leave a leader's remains just like that... and thats not even remotely horrifying when compared to what happened next... we went a bit near to take a look.... the sight of the half burnt dead body of our former leader filled me with agony .... yes the body was only half burnt and everything was visible .... no need to say that officials did not use enough wood for the body to burn completely... how can anyone be so careless... how can the family members be so careless... doesn't anyone there know how much wood is supposed to be used.... where was everybody or at least people who are supposed to see to that the body is burnt properly.... why is his half burnt body left as an orphan with nobody to care....


Night 22:00 hrs a small crowd gathers at the place equally horrified at the unbelievable sight.. somebody calls the police and media... and the media starts covering the incident live.... the police and some local leaders rush to the venue.... when the angry crowd tries to question the authorities they try to bluff their way out by saying that they were there till then.. and they went to take bath...(all at the same time?? and what about the security that was supposed to guard the remains)... and the local leaders even bluff saying that people have put so many flowers that the fire went off... ohh please!!! be at least logical.. if the fire is put off by the flowers show us the flowers... or at least show us the remaining wood that is not burnt because the fire was put off... his half burnt body was lying amidst ashes... no wood whatsoever.... even the religious heads bluff their way saying that this is natural that even if the wood is burnt completely the carcass keeps on burning for 24 hours.... OK accepted then why did they hurriedly collect more wood and put fire when the whole process is natural... and when they couldnot answer the angry crowd the local leaders and authorities ask police to disperse the crowd and the police their ever faithful dog uses force to disperse the crowd.. then on a war footing a barricade was built around the dias and police personnel guarded the site through the night....

All night the media was telecasting this horrible incident.... and the next day morning nobody talks about it... the media is quite.... couple of leaders who criticized on what happened are quiet more surprisingly the family is quiet...no need to mention that things have been taken care of...... and life continues as nothing has happened.... Shame on the political leaders who could not pay enough respect to their own party leader.... Shame on the media who have shut their voices and turned their face away from such a horrible fact... Shame on his family members who could not care enough..... Shame on all the people who tried to cover this incident..... leave alone being a leader and a former Prime Minister.. he is not given enough respect even as a fellow human being.... Do these people deserve to be called human? I don't think so, cause if they were... this wouldn't have happened....

This happened in the heart of Hyderabad.. the city I was proud of... capital of Andhra Pradesh... where people are known for their generosity, hospitality, tolerance and respect ..... but now I don't see those people nor the traits that were associated with those people.... now the city bears an ugly scar..... due to the inhuman act by some who are not fit to be called human beings... Today I bend my head in shame and mourn a fellow human being from the bottom of my heart.....

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