Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lit the pyre to bid a tearful adieu to his mother, Rajmata Mohinder Kaur (96) – who passed away in her Patiala home on Monday evening – at Shahi Smadhan for the royal matriarch’s cremation.

Captain Amarinder was joined by brother Malwinder Singh and son Raninder Singh in lighting the pyre at Smadhan – the family’s ancestor cremation ground.

Besides the immediate family, Captain Amarinder’s brothers-in-law, former Union Minister Kanwar Natwar Singh and Major Kanwaljit Singh Dhillon, were also present at the funeral, along with their sons. Captain Amarinder’s grandsons Nirvan Singh, Angad Singh and Yaduinder Singh also joined in performing the last rites.

Besides political, religious and administrative leaders, people from all walks of life joined the cremation.

Capt Amarinder's residence, Moti Bagh palace, witnesses huge rush as people had started gathering there since the break of dawn to catch a last glimpse (antim darshan) of their beloved Rajmata who was a  former Congress' member of Parliament . She had been keeping unwell for some time and breathed her last at the family’s Moti Mahal residence in Patiala on Monday as a result of multiple system failure triggered by a natural weakening due to old age, according to an official spokesperson.

Among those who paid their last respects to Rajmata included Punjab governor VP Sing Badnore, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, besides speaker Punjab Assembly, Rana KP Singh and Cabinet ministers Brahm Mohindra, Manpreet Singh Badal, Rana Gurjit Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and member Parliament Santokh Chaudhary.

Cutting across the party lines, several prominent political leaders, former CM Parkash Singh Badal shared their condolences with the bereaved family and paid floral tributes to the departed soul.   

Several religious and spiritual personalities from various sects and faiths also offered prayers at Shahi Samadhan to grant eternal peace to the departed soul.

Earlier, Rajmata’s funeral procession, which started from Moti Bagh palace, went through the streets of Patiala, where huge crowds had gathered to pay their respects to Rajmata. The CM, along with his brother Malwinder Singh, son Raninder Singh and his grandsons Nirvan Singh, Angad Singh and Yaduinder Singh, accompanied the mortal remains of Rajmata in a flower decked funeral van.

At the Shahi Smadhan, an emotional Captain Amarinder, joined by his brother and other family members and relatives, shouldered the bier to the cremation site.

Rajmata is survived by two sons (Amarinder and Malwinder) and two daughters (Heminder Kaur, wife of Natwar Singh, and Rupinder Kaur, wife of Major Dhillon). Captain’s daughter Jaya Inder Singh was close by her mother’s side at the palace to mourn Rajmata’s death. Raninder’s daughter’s Inayatinder Kaur and Seharinder Kaur also joined the family in its moment of grief.