Residents of Tamil Nadu paid floral tribute and chanted the slogan of Bharat Mata Ki Jai as the convoy carrying mortal remains of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and others passed. The convoy was heading from Madras Regimental Centre to Sulur Air Base in Nilgiris district before they are brought to Delhi.
When the convoy was crossing through the market area of Mettupalayam area, a large number of people stood on the roadside to take a glimpse of their heroes and to pay their tributes.
To each approaching ambulance, they were showering flowers and chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Chanting Veer Vanakkam they were paying tributes to these bravehearts.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Locals shower flower petals as ambulances carrying the mortal remains of CDS Bipin Rawat, his wife and other personnel who died in the Coonoor Helicopter Crash, leave for Sulur airbase from Madras Regimental Centre in Nilgiris district pic.twitter.com/dWhw9kG3l9
— ANI (@ANI) December 9, 2021
Videos of the last journey of Men in Uniform are evidence of the kind of respect and love Indian Armed Forces command.
ஏண்டா தமிழ் கூத்தாடி பசங்களா இந்த மக்களுக்கு இருக்கும் தேசபக்தியில் ஒரு சதவீதம் கூடவா உங்களுக்கு இல்லை pic.twitter.com/XAfdO4yXHA
— 🇮🇳 கட்டெறும்பு 🚩 (@katterumpu) December 9, 2021
A large number of women were also seen standing in the crowd. These women folding their hands, with no control over the emotion, were crying while paying last respects to the departed. They were crying as if they lost somebody in their family. They were greeting and saluting mortal remains.
அழறாங்க… pic.twitter.com/1FIFbVRwLX
— நாதஸ்™ (@mpgiri) December 9, 2021
The visuals are so moving that it got us a lump in our throats. This is India that is Bharat. The country that mourns the loss of the decorated soldiers and their chief.
Over the years India has lost many chief ministers and prime ministers and other tall politicians while they were in office. While deaths are always sad, this loss seems more personal for Indians. The Men in Uniform are the ones who stay up guarding our boundaries while we sleep peacefully in our homes. Gen Bipin Rawat was the Chief of Defence Staff. The military head and chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Indian Armed Forces.
India has never quite seen or experienced such a loss. The head of the heads, the Senapati, so to say, dying an untimely death like this. Warriors die on the battlefield. They become martyrs. They don the uniform fully prepared to die for the nation. When the head of those Men in Uniform meets such a tragic end, the heart bleeds. Our hearts do.
Which is why people across the country are mourning. Which is why even military heads and heads of other nations are grieving with us. The Men in Uniform are the ones who protect us. They are not elected, they don’t rule or reign. They just protect us, lay down their lives for us. For a General of such fearless armed forces to go away like this has hit us, and hit us hard. Which is why the other brave soldiers who also passed away in this awful tragedy has pained us more.
Which is why, when their mortal remains passed through the streets of India, they were welcomed like heroes.
Because they never die, they are immortalised.
