BJP MP and brother of Suvendu Adhikari, Soumendu Adhikari, became emotional on May 7 while attending the last rites of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to the West Bengal Leader of Opposition. In the clip, he is seen crying inconsolably while paying his final respects. He was being supported by two people during the moment of grief.
The last rites of Chandranath Rath, the slain aide of senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, were performed in his native village in Purba Medinipur district on Thursday amid an outpouring of grief from thousands of mourners.
Rath’s mortal remains, draped in the national flag, were placed at a field in his village, Kulup, where residents gathered to pay their final respects. Several BJP leaders, including Dibyendu Adhikari, Suvendu Adhikari’s brother, were present during the funeral.
A former Indian Air Force employee, Rath served as Suvendu Adhikari’s executive assistant and had worked closely with him for more than eight years, including during Adhikari’s tenure in the Trinamool Congress. He was shot dead inside his car by motorcycle-borne assailants in Madhyamgram on Wednesday night, less than 48 hours after the West Bengal Assembly election results in which the BJP defeated the Trinamool Congress, which had been in power since 2011.
Suvendu Adhikari remained at Barasat Hospital for over three hours during Rath’s post-mortem examination. As the body arrived at Kulup village in the Chandipur area, scenes of grief unfolded, with Rath’s mother and other family members breaking down in tears as neighbours and family friends tried to console them.
Rath’s mother, who is also a BJP activist in Purba Medinipur, appealed for life imprisonment for the accused instead of capital punishment, saying she understood the pain a mother endures.
(With Inputs From PTI)
