As slogans rented air ‘Gaddar Amar Rahe’ and revolutionary songs playing and sung by hundreds of artists, the final procession of Balladeer Gaddar travelled through the city before he was laid to rest with full State honours at Maha Bodhi Vidyalaya, the school built by him and where he wishes his final rites should be held.
The rites were held as per the Buddhist customs with his family members, public representatives and thousands of followers watching and singing the revolutionary songs, some of them written by the late Gaddar himself. Slogans of ‘Lal Salaam and Johar Gaddar’ were raised even as the police personnel fired in the air as per the protocol of the State honours. “Buddham Namami, Dhammam Namami, Sangam Namami and Bhimam Namami’ were prayed at the last hour by religious leaders.
Gaddar passed away on Sunday while undergoing treatment in a corporate hospital on Sunday and the government announced performing of last rites with State honours.
With crowds surging to have the last glimpse of the singer, family members had to repeatedly appeal to people not to barge into the ground and it had become difficult for the police to control the public. Only family members and religious leaders were allowed to that place apart from political leaders of all hues.
The mortal remains of Gaddar, kept at LB Stadium to offer tributes by the public, were brought to the Martyrs Memorial located opposite to Assembly where it was kept for some time before being taken to his residence. All through the procession artistes and his followers sung songs written by Gaddar over the last five decades.
The procession took about six hours for the 17 kilometres distance from LB Stadium to the house of Gaddar at Alwal. The procession that started around 11 a.m. reached at about 5 p.m. in the evening. Traffic came to standstill at several places as large number of people walked along with the procession.
Earlier, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao reached the house of Gaddar located at Bhudevinagar in Alwal and paid floral tributes to the departed balladeer and consoled the family members. He was accompanied by ministers T. Harish Rao, T. Srinivas Yadav, V. Prashanth Reddy, MLAs and others. TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy and Congress MLA Seethakka were there till the last rites were performed.
Minister for Forests A. Indrakaran Reddy, Minister for Panchayat Raj E. Dayakar Rao, Minister for Animal Husbandry T. Srinivas Yadav, Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy and others offered their respects at the LB Stadium. Former Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy, Lok Sabha member Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, MLAs D. Sridhar Babu, Seethakka, BJP M. Raghunandan Rao, BSP president R.S. Praveen Kumar and others also paid tributes.
They recalled their association with him and his role in creating awareness among the public as well as in the separate Telangana movement. “Gaddar stood with the people and created awareness. He felt vote should be a weapon to change the system. We have to work for democratic Telangana,” said Kodanadaram of the TJS.
Toopran, the birth place of Gaddar in Medak district observed bandh as a tribute to Gaddar.
