‘You acted like his eldest son’: Kalyan Singh’s son praises Yogi Adityanath

Rajveer said Adityanath not only escorted Kalyan’s mortal remains from Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) hospital to Singh’s Lucknow residence, where the body was kept overnight, but also got the ‘shaanti path’ started the same night.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister late Kalyan Singh’s son Rajveer Singh, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Etah, praised chief minister Yogi Adityanath for personally supervising all arrangements for his father’s last journey, spread across three days, and for remaining present throughout till his last rites were performed.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has received high praise from former CM Kalyan Singh’s son. (Photo Courtesy- PTI)

“Someone, who didn’t take part in the last rites of his own father due to pressing official commitments, remained by the mortal remains of my Ram Bhakt (devotee) father for three days, and in doing so, he fulfilled the responsibility of being his eldest son. For this, me and my family will forever remain grateful,” Rajveer wrote in a facebook post. “I am forever grateful to such Yogi,” he added.

In April 2020, during the first Covid wave, when Adityanath’s father Anand Singh Bisht died, the chief minister, while grieving his father’s death, had cited official responsibility for not attending his father’s funeral - a point that Rajveer highlighted.

Rajveer said Adityanath not only escorted Kalyan’s mortal remains from Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) hospital to Singh’s Lucknow residence, where the body was kept overnight, but also got the ‘shaanti path’ (a ritual for peace of the departed) started the same night itself.

“He then escorted Kalyan’s body to Vidhan Bhawan and UP BJP office, then flew to Aligarh where the mortal remains were taken to on Sunday, supervised all the preparations before bidding adieu to the late leader like a family member,” Rajveer said.

Kalyan Singh was the BJP’s one of the tallest other backward class (OBC) leaders and a key participant in the Ayodhya Ram Temple movement.