Guwahati, Nov 24 (PTI) When the sun was going down in the horizon, it was a sunset at Rajiv Bhawan, the Congress state headquarters, as its father-figure Tarun Gogoi was leaving the complex forever! There was an emotional outburst among the Congress leaders, workers and sympathisers when the former chief minister's glass coffin, wrapped in flowers, was going for resting at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra complex in Guwahati.

The mortal remains of the 84-year-old veteran Congress leader reached the party head office at Bhangagarh locality on the arterial Guwahati-Shillong Road in the afternoon.

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Thousands of members of the Congress and affiliated organisations from across the state paid their rich tribute to their beloved leader there.

Many central leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Jitendra Singh, K C Venugopal and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, are likely to visit Assam over the next two days to pay their last respects to Gogoi.

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State Congress president Ripun Bora said party leaders Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal will reach Guwahati on Wednesday morning to pay their homage to Gogoi.

"Gandhi will come by a special flight at around 9:40 am. He will be here for about two hours. After spending some time, he will return by afternoon," he added.

Congress Assam In-charge Jitendra Singh will reach the state by the evening of Wednesday, while some more leaders are likely to visit Gogoi for the last time in the next two days, Bora said.

Gogoi will be cremated in the state capital on Thursday afternoon instead of his hometown Titabor. However, people from his constituency are demanding that his last rites be performed in his home district.

"As per Gogoi's wish, the body will be taken to a temple, mosque and church before the last rites," the Congress state unit chief said.

Though Gogoi's body was to leave the state party headquarters compound at 4 pm, it was delayed by one hour due to a heavy rush of admirers coming in large numbers to have the last glimpse of Gogoi.

"What an irony that sun is setting today for the world now and for us in this Congress head office also. We will never see Gogoi sir, who was like our father," Congress state unit Secretary Prafulla Kumar Das told PTI.

Former cabinet colleague and MLA Rakibul Hussain was seen sitting on the ground and sobbing. He was surrounded by other legislators Jakir Hussain Sikdar and Nurul Huda along with some other people.

Bora too became emotional the moment the body was taken out, while other leaders like Pradyut Bordoloi, Abdul Khaleque and Rekibuddin Ahmed were grieving.

When the flower-bedecked truck started its journey towards Panjabari for Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, thousands of people started walking along and hundreds of vehicles followed.

The 8-km distance along the busy GS Road witnessed scores of people shouting 'Long Live Tarun Gogoi' and 'Tarun Gogoi is Immortal', while hundreds of onlookers stopped their vehicles on both sides of the road and took pictures of the last journey.

It was a sea of people everywhere with every inch of footpaths, dividers and even vehicle roofs were occupied.

After almost one and half hours and passing through the busy Ganeshguri and Choy Mile markets, the convoy reached Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra complex, where already several hundred people were waiting to pay their last respects.

As per the family's wish, the mortal remains will be at the historic complex in Guwahati Thursday morning. People will be allowed to catch a final glimpse of the grand old man all of November 25.

Gogoi's final journey began on Tuesday morning from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where he breathed his last on Monday evening due to post-COVID-19 complications, to his official residence in Dispur.

From there, the body was taken to Janata Bhawan, the state secretariat, from where Gogoi served people for 15 years as the chief minister.

Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami,several ministers, Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua and DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta led the brigade of government staff in paying their respect at the complex.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)