The charisma of former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray seemed undiminished even after his death. During his last journey on Sunday, Ray appeared like a “Pied Piper” attracting all and sundry. Hundreds of mourners, cutting across all barriers, thronged to pay their last regards to a leader who was famous and at the same time infamous when the politics of Bengal used to rotate around him.
As the cortege went from his Beltala home to the crematorium, political leaders, diplomats and commoners started thronging to catch a last glimpse of the former chief minister.
His popularity was felt at his residence where Ray’s body was kept till 1.30 pm for the mourners to pay tribute. “We have lost an important personality in Ray, a parliamentarian, sportsperson and barrister. I had a very long and close association with him,” said former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. US Consul General Beth A. Payne also paid tribute to the departed leader who had represented India as an ambassador to the US.
Ray’s wife Maya was seen bidding adieu to him from the window of the house. Ray’s body was taken out from his Beltala residence in a hearse escorted by a convoy of the Kolkata police. Trinamul Congress MPs Saugata Ray and Mukul Roy stood guard besides his body in the hearse.
The hearse reached the Assembly at 1.55 pm where chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Left Front ministers paid tribute to Ray.