Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that before his demise, Chandy had expressed to his family his wish to be buried like a common man. “He wished for a common man’s burial for him. His family is fulfilling that wish,” Chennithala told PTI. A govt source said Chandy’s family had written to the chief secretary, expressing his wish that he be buried without state honours, as a common person. AICC secretary and MLA P C Vishnunath said the state government has accepted the request of the late leader’s family.
“It was Chandy sir’s wish, and his family conveyed it to the government. The party also has no say on this matter as it was our late leader’s wish,” Vishnunath told PTI. Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen said that his father was “born as a common man, lived like one and died like one”. “He did not want state honours. Therefore, we all want it (funeral) to be done as per Appa’s wish,” he said.
Burials or cremations of former chief ministers of the state are usually held with full state honours after the performance of religious rituals, if any. In 2010, Congress stalwart and four-time Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran was cremated with full state honours. While there were no religious rituals performed before the cremation of Communist Chief Ministers like EMS Namboodiripad and E K Nayanar, who died in 1998 and 2004, respectively, they were accorded full state honours. Preparations are in full swing for Chandy’s funeral ceremony at Puthuppally Orthodox Church in Kottayam district.
His body will be buried in an exclusive area — where priests are usually interred — on the church premises, instead of in his family vault at the cemetery. Chandy, who served twice as Chief Minister of Kerala, breathed his last at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday. He was 79. His end came while he was undergoing treatment for cancer, party sources said.
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