Thousands of people packed the voluntarily shut down Suryapet town for Col. Bikkumalla Santosh Babu’s last journey, a distance of 6 km from the family’s residence to the pyre at Kesaram, where he was consigned to flames on Thursday.
The mortal remains of the Colonel, killed in the skirmish with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley, Ladakh, on June 15, was flown to his home town by the Indian Army late Wednesday night. On Thursday, at 9.35 a.m., the funeral procession began at Vidyangar in a bedecked Army convoy.
The convoy moved amid the screaming of Bharat Mata ki Jai, Santosh Babu amar rahe, China down down and Vande Mataram slogans by emotionally charged residents of the town, as they stood in rows with flowers, the national flag and a cellphone to capture the procession, all the way till the funeral field.
Major J.H. Fareedi of Bihar Regiment, who was the Army’s liaison officer, coordinated the military funeral honours, and State representative Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy arranged the necessary courtesies.
Just about when the clock struck noon, the soldiers facing east in front of the pyre lowered their guns and observed silence. The Army band behind them then played The Last Post, and the gun salute followed. The tricolour flag too, that was covering the Colonel, was folded and handed over to his wife Santoshi. At least 50 Armed Forces officials, the youth wing National Cadet Corps, alumni of Sainiki School, Korukonda, representatives of political parties and thousands of residents were at the field.
The gathering that was witnessing the funeral service erupted in thundering slogans as the last rites progressed. At 12.15 p.m., the Colonel’s three-and-a-half-year-old son Anirudh, who was carried by his mother, lit the pyre along with his grandfather Upender. And simultaneously, the soldiers fired three volleys in a 14-gun salute.
Mr. Jagadish Reddy, on behalf of the State government, post-cremation announced from the very site that Kesaram will be made a memorial symbol, and the town’s main intersection will be named after the Colonel.
“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has already conveyed that the family would be taken care of in all respects. Col. Santosh Babu will go down in history, he made us all proud,” he said.
