Vikrant Shekhawat : Dec 10, 2021, 04:29 PM
New Delhi: Delhi Cantonment’s Brar Square saw heart-breaking scenes on Friday morning during the final journey of Brigadier LS Lidder, who died along with General Bipin Rawat and 11 others in the military chopper crash in Tamil Nadu.Brigadier Lidder was given a funeral with full military honours, with several VIPs, including Defence Ministers Rajnath Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval attending the solemn ceremony.In one final goodbye, his wife, Geetika Lidder, kissed the coffin as their daughter, 16-year-old Aashna, stood beside her mother, in tears. The family’s close relatives and friends were present at the cremation ground.Before the pyre was lit, Geetika Lidder was handed over the tricolour that draped the coffin and a portrait of Brigadier LS Lidder. The mother and daughter were seen kissing the portrait.“I am going to be 17. So he was with me for 17 years, we will go ahead with happy memories. It's a national loss. My father was a hero, my best friend. Maybe it was destined and better things will come our way. He was my biggest motivator,” said a stoic Aashna Lidder, who recently released her book of poems. Her proud parents and General Rawat’s wife, Madhulika, was present at the book launch.“We must give him a good farewell, a smiling send-off, I am a soldier's wife. It's a big loss,” Geetika Lidder said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country's top military brass on Thursday paid homage to General Bipin Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff, his wife Madhulika, Brigadier Lidder and 10 more defence personnel at the Palam air base after their bodies were brought to Delhi in a military aircraft.Heart-wrenching scenes were seen at the airport as 13 caskets were lined up inside a hangar in presence of their family members.