Kyndiah laid to rest in state funeral

SHILLONG, MAR 29: The mortal remains of late Paty Ripple Kyndiah, the former union minister and veteran Congress leader, was accorded a state funeral at St. Anthony’s ground, Laitumkhrah before being laid to rest at the All Saints’ Cathedral Cemetery on Sunday afternoon.

Floral wreathes were laid by the dignitaries of the state at the casket bearing late Kyndiah’s mortal remains draped with the Tricolor, while the Meghalaya police accorded a gun salute as a mark of respect to the departed leader.

Paying a tribute to the late leader on the solemn occasion, the chief adviser to the Meghalaya government DD Lapang recalled Kyndiah’s as a “man of passion, mission and determination” and said that his passing away was a great loss to the family, the state and the nation as a whole.

Meghalaya assembly speaker  T Mondal, offering his tributes to the late leader on behalf of all the members of the assembly, said it was one of the saddest moments in the history of Meghalaya. “Late Kyndiah never lost an election in his lifetime and this only shows the amount of faith the people had in him”, he said, adding that he had been a guiding force to all the members in the assembly especially to the new members.

Meghalaya home minister Roshan Warjri in her tribute also recalled the services of late Kyndiah to the state and the ation in various capacities, saying that she would greatly miss his “towering presence”.

LK Kyndiah, one of the sons of late Kyndiah, spoke on the occasion on behalf of the family and expressed his gratitude to the state government for according a grand honour to their late father and said that besides being a great leader, he was “a loving and caring father and a closest friend we had”.

Among others, the floral tribute to the departed leader on behalf of the governor KN Tripathi was paid by the principal secretary, MS Rao and Meghalaya Resource Mobilization & Employment Generation Council chairperson Dikkanchi D. Shira.

Besides a number of positions held in his long political career both in the state and union governments, late Kyndiah was also actively involved in various social services and also authored a number of books including, “Jawaharlal Nehru: the Thinking Dynamo”, “Meghalaya: Yesterday and Today, “Journey of Words”, “Rev. JJM Nichols Roy: Architect of District Council Autonomy” and “Mizo Freedom Fighters”, among others.

Despite the inclement weather, the state funeral function of late Kyndiah was attended by many citizens of the state, besides the ministers, officials and his family members, relatives, friends and well-wishers.- By Our Reporter