Longewala hero Bhairon Singh Rathore cremated in Rajasthan village

PTI

Jodhpur, December 20

Hundreds gathered to pay tribute to Bhairon Singh Rathore, a hero of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, who was cremated with full state honours in his ancestral village here on Tuesday.

Rathore, whose bravery at Rajasthan’s Longewala post inspired Bollywood film “Border”, breathed his last at AIIMS here on Monday.

His mortal remains were taken to the Border Security Force (BSF) headquarters where people gathered to pay their last respects to him. Later, the mortal remains were taken to his native village, Solankiatala in Shergarh sub-division.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, former state minister Yunus Khan and several public representatives, police and Army personnel and ex-servicemen were among those who paid tribute to Rathore at the BSF headquarters.

Rathore’s mortal remains reached his home at around 12:30 pm in a BSF vehicle and left for the cremation ground at around 2 pm, said his son Sawai Singh.

Slogans hailing Rathore rent the air as villagers joined the war veteran in his final journey.

Rathore was accorded a Guard of Honour at the cremation ground, where his son lit his pyre.

During the 1971 war, Rathore was deployed at the Longewala post in the Thar desert of Jaisalmer, commanding a small BSF unit of six to seven personnel that was accompanied by a company of 120 soldiers of the Army’s 23 Punjab regiment. These men decimated a Pakistani brigade and tank regiment at this location on December 5, 1971.

Rathore received the Sena Medal in 1972 for his gallant action. Posted with the 14th BSF battalion during the war, he retired from service as a Naik in 1987.

The BSF’s records about the Longewala battle state, “When one of the 23 Punjab boys was killed, Lance Naik Bhairon Singh took his light machine gun and inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing enemy.”

“It was only their courage and determination to do or die that won the day and Lance Naik Bhairon Singh became a great inspiration to his other comrades on the post,” the official records state.

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