Fernandes to be cremated, ashes buried: Jaya Jaitly

January 29, 2019 12:00

Social activist and former Samata Party President Jaya Jaitly said today that George Fernandes, who passed away today, had expressed his desire to be cremated but during his last days, he said he wanted to be buried. "So, we will cremate the body and bury the ashes, to fulfil both his wishes," she told ANI outside the veteran socialist leader's home today. Jaitly, a close associate of Fernandes said the last rites will be held tomorrow after the arrival of his son. "Right now, the body is being embalmed," she said this morning.

Veteran socialist George Fernandes, who was the defence minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, passed away Tuesday following a prolonged illness, Jaya Jaitly said. He was 88.

Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which had forced him out of the public eye for last many years, and had recently contracted swine flu, she said, adding that he died at his residence in New Delhi.

He was India's defence minister in the NDA government headed by Vajpayee when India fought the Kargil war in 1999. It was during his tenure that India conducted nuclear test at Pokhran in 1998. He was the industry minister under the Jan Sangh government which had defeated former prime minster Indira Gandhi in 1977.

Tributes poured in for the veteran leader, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he was frank and fearless, and never deviated from his ideology.

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