Singer Zubeen Garg's death: Assam govt extends state mourning till Tuesday
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the last rites will take place on Tuesday at Sonapur as per the wishes of Zubeen Garg's family
Silchar: The Assam Cabinet has extended the three-day state mourning in honour of singer Zubeen Garg by one more day till September 23.The public will be able to pay last respects to him at Sarusajai Stadium until Tuesday. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the last rites will take place on Tuesday at Sonapur as per the wishes of Garg's family.
The 52-year-old singer died in Singapore due to an accident while scuba diving before attending an event, and his body was brought to Assam on Sunday morning.
Himanta said that the Singapore government has shared the death certificate of Zubeen, which indicates that the primary cause of death was drowning. However, the postmortem report is awaited.
The chief minister, along with minister of state for external affairs Pabitra Margherita, received the body at New Delhi on Saturday night, and it was flown to Guwahati Airport during the early hours of Sunday.
The body was first taken to Zubeen's house and then brought to Guwahati's Sarusajai Stadium, where more than a lakh people from various parts of the state paid tribute.
Lakhs of people came out on the streets to take part in the last rites, and business activities across the state came to a halt as part of the mourning. The state government initially announced a three-day state mourning from September 20 to 22, but the cabinet on Sunday decided to extend it by another day to give everyone a chance to pay tribute to the late singer.
"Today we saw how much the people of Assam love him, and till now they are standing in queue to see Zubeen one last time. More people are coming to attend this, and considering this, we have decided to keep the body at Sarusajai Stadium for one more day," Sarma said on Sunday evening.
He said that the last rites will take place on Tuesday at Sonapur near Guwahati on September 23, as decided by his family members.
"Many people wanted this to take place in Jorhat and we were also considering this, but the family members said that it'll be difficult for the singer's 90-year-old father to travel that far, so we are doing it at Sonapur," Sarma said.
Sarma later wrote on X: "After discussions with the family of Zubeen Garg, Assam Cabinet has approved allotment of 10 bigha land in Kamarkuchi, near Guwahati where our beloved Zubeen will be laid to rest on September 23."
Many people, including Zubeen's wife Garima Garg, broke into tears while paying tribute to the late singer on Sunday. Garima said, "Zubeen will always remain with us through his music."
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah to musicians like A.R. Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal and many others — tributes poured in after Zubeen's death. The chief minister said that Amit Shah dialed him several times on Sunday to take stock of the situation in Guwahati and to get details of the last rites.
Guwahati will host the opening ceremony of the Women's Cricket World Cup on September 30, where singer Shreya Ghoshal will pay a tribute to Zubeen, according to the organisers.
