Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), April 30 NNN: The people of Tawang paid rich tribute to former Arunachal Pradesh chief minsiter Dorjee Khandu on his first death anniversary by marching 7 km from Tawang Monastery to his cremation ground at Famla. Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh today who had died in a chopper crash on April 30 last year.
Some 9,000 people gathered at Tawang monastery at 9.30am and participated in the march. The number swelled as they marched through different points in Tawang town. All along the route, the atmosphere was filled with a medley of prayer chants and the aroma of incense.
Earlier, the abbot of Tawang Monastery, Guru Rinpoche addressed the mammoth gathering and urged them to remember Khandu’s visionary deeds that ushered in an era of prosperity in the State. He later joined the monks of the monastery to offer prayers for early rebirth of Khandu in Monyul or land of Monpas, the community that dominates Tawang district.
At the cremation ground, monks and mourners lighted 108 butter lamps as per Buddhist tradition in honour of Khandu. Goleng Monpa, Khandu’s elder brother, extended gratitude to the people on behalf of the Khandu family.
It can be noted that last year, on the fifth day of searching the missing chopper carrying Dorjee Khandu and four others, the wreckage of the chopper the chief minister was traveling in, was found at Luguthang, 30 km north of Sela Pass and 60 km east of Tawang bordering China.
Dorjee Khandu, born on March 3, 1955, is one of very few school dropouts to become chief minister of an Indian state. He dropped out after the eighth standard, but his schooling was in a bhoti, the Buddhist equivalent of an Islamic madarsa.
Hailing from Gyangkhar village in Tawang district, Khandu belonged to the Monpa tribe. He was in the Indian Army Intelligence Corps and worked there for more than seven years. He received a gold medal for meritorious intelligence services rendered during Bangladesh War. He subsequently switched to social activism and politics.
He won his first assembly election from Mukto constituency in 1990 and became minister (cooperation) for the first time in March 1995. He handled various ministries including veterinary, power and mines before replacing Gegong Apang as chief minister on April 9, 2007.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/rich-tributes-to-khandu-on-first-death-anniversary/
