Thousands pay tearful last respects to Manmohan Singh

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who died at 92 on Thursday, leaving behind a legacy of historic measures that unleashed India's economy, was cremated on Saturday with full state honours at Nigambodh Ghat in the nation's capital.

- Zia Haq

Top officials, relatives and thousands of admirers gathered as the funeral pyre was lit by Singh's eldest daughter, Upinder Singh, in the presence of her sisters Daman Singh, a writer, and Amrit Singh, who teaches at Stanford Law School, apart from the late prime minister's wife Gursharan Kaur. Congress party leaders and foreign dignitaries also attended the funeral that saw a 21-gun salute. National flags flew at half-mast across the national capital on what was a grey, overcast day.

Shortly after 11.20am at the funeral site, President Droupadi Murmu led the nation in paying tributes to the 13th prime minister of the country, whose premiership ran from 2004 to 2014. The president laid a wreath of white lotus flowers and lilies at the foot of a raised platform where Singh's body had been lain, draped in the national flag.

The president's tributes were followed by those of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and health minister JP Nadda, who also leads the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Among top government officials, Shah was first to arrive at the funeral.

Congress president and leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also laid wreaths at Nigambodh Ghat. They were seated in the front row at the funeral ceremony, along with the President, Vice President, PM and senior Cabinet ministers. Sonia had earlier said Singh was her "friend, philosopher and guide".