Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ashes immersed off Mumbai coast as part of ‘Asthi Kalash Yatra’

The ashes of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were immersed in the Arabian Sea, near Gateway of India in Mumbai, in the presence of senior BJP leaders on Friday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah had handed over urns containing Vajpayee’s ashes to all the BJP state unit chiefs asking them to immerse it in rivers and seas across the country.

The “Asthi Kalash Yatra” in Mumbai took place in the afternoon today.

As a part of the yatra, several BJP leaders travelled in a boat, with city unit chief Ashish Shelar and senior state minister Vinod Tawde immersing the ashes in the sea amid sloganeering by party workers eulogising Vajpayee.

“The Atal Asthi Kalash Yatra aims to spread the legacy of the former PM and Bharat Ratna awardee across the length and breadth of the country,” said Mumbai BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra who was also present on the occasion.

On Thursday, the ashes were immersed in Lucknow’s Gomti river, Vajpayee’s political ‘karmabhoomi’.

Meanwhile, the former PM’s niece and Congress leader Karuna Shukla has slammed the BJP for seeking electoral gains from the yatra. “The way BJP is carrying around the country ashes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it is a show-off and for votes,” she told ANI.

The Congress too lashed out at the PM and BJP over ‘petty political gains’.

“The last rites are performed by family members for peace of the departed soul. PM Modi and the BJP have usurped the last remains of Former PM Vajpayee and are using it for petty political gains. BJP leaders discover new lows every day,” it tweeted.

Vajpayee, three-time Prime Minister, died on August 16 after a prolonged illness that saw the 93-year-old poet-statesman withdraw from public life almost a decade ago.