From President Ram Nath Kovind to PM Narendra Modi Congress president Rahul Gandhi leaders mourn as Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid to rest at Smriti Sthal

Bugles sounded the last post, uniformed soldiers gave a gun salute and silence fell over the crowd as former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's mortal remains were consigned to the flames on Friday evening, the sun setting on the life of a poet-politician who combined accommodative politics with graciousness. Daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya lit the pyre as cries of 'Atal Bihari Amar Rahe' reverberated in the air and a light drizzle fell. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh were among the thousands of people at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on the banks of the Yamuna, the BJP patriarch's final resting place along the stretch which also houses the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Several foreign dignitaries, including Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Pakistan's Law Minister Ali Zafar were also present as Vajpayee was cremated with full state honours.

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