“Haryana Ke Nirmata Bansi Lal Amar Rahe, Chaudhary Surender Singh Amar Rahe.” As a sea of humanity chanted in unison, the sense of loss and grief at the cremation of the doyen of Haryana politics Bansi Lal at his native village Golagarh in Bhiwani was unmistakable. As the fresh-from-an-eclipse sun started to go down, Lal was cremated with full state honours. Many equated his demise with sunset in Haryana politics.

Not very long back, Golagarh had witnessed a similar sight with the mortal remains of another of their beloved leader, Lal’s younger son Surender Singh, being consigned to flames. Singh had died in a helicopter crash on March 31, 2005. As Golagarh assembled again today, the general feeling was that Bansi Lal could not reconcile to his son’s death. That Surender was Lal’s favourite was evident from the fact that he had chosen him to be his political heir instead of his elder son Ranbir Singh Mahendra.

In Bhiwani, people lined both sides of the road from where the funeral cavalcade passed. Bansi Lal’s body, draped in tricolour, was taken from his residence in the Hansi Gate area to the cremation ground in his village in an open truck. His son Mahendra and daughter-in-law Kiran Choudhary stood with folded hands atop the truck accepting condolences from the masses.

The 25-km journey from Bhiwani to Golagarh took an eternity to complete with the road leading to the village virtually becoming one-way with hundreds of vehicles moving in a serpentine queue. At the village, thousands of people broke through security cordons at many points to get a final glimpse of their beloved leader.

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