No bugles were heard, and no uniformed police officers saluted as former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy was laid to rest as a commoner at Puthuppally, close here, on Thursday night, fulfilling his wish. He was laid to rest among the departed priests in a private tomb at St. George Orthodox Church here at 12:02 a.m.
Senior Congress officials, including Rahul Gandhi and former Defence Minister A K Antony, as well as state ministers and representatives from other political parties, attended Chandy’s funeral at the church where he used to attend Sunday mass despite his tight schedule as chief minister.
Thousands gathered at the church to say goodbye to their ‘Kunjoonju,’ as Chandy was lovingly known by the people of Puthuppally, the seat he represented in the state legislature for more than five decades.
Family members of the Congress stalwart, including his wife Mariamma Oommen, three children, and grandchildren, wept as his mortal bones were lowered into the grave. Chandy died on Tuesday at a hospital in Bengaluru after a protracted illness. He was 79. Chandy had requested a common man’s burial, therefore he was laid to rest without the state honours customarily bestowed upon past chief ministers.
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