Mukti Ram, 85, was born in Dhikurpokhari of Kaski district. He had been suffering from neurological and renal diseases for long. [break]
Health of Mukti Ram suddenly deteriorated Sunday night. “He was almost unconscious for two to three hours. He passed away at 10 pm,” said Khem Bhandari, the deceased´s eldest son-in-law.
Mutki Ram is survived by two sons, of which Maoist Chairman Dahal is the elder, and five daughters. After Dahal became the prime minister, Mukti Ram lived in Kathmandu. But a week ago, he moved to his younger son Ganga Ram´s house at Baidiknagar, Bharatpur-6 to take rest. Mukti Ram had undergone a prostate surgery a month ago. When Mukti Ram breathed his last, only his younger daughter-in-law was by his side. Mukti Ram´s wife Bhawani passed away in 1994.
Maoist Chairman Dahal, wife Sita Dahal, and his younger brother arrived in Chitwan at 5 am Sunday. At 8 am, a condolence meet was organized at the house where he passed away.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Deputy Prime Minister Narayankaji Shrestha, and Maoist General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, Janardan Sharma, Hisila Yami, Agni Sapkota, among other Maoist leaders, and CPN-UML Vice-Chairman Bidhya Bhandari, who lost her mother-in-law on Saturday, reached Bharatpur to pay last respects to the deceased.
In the crowd of people who turned up to pay last respects, party Vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya was conspicuously absent.
Dahal cremated his father at Devghat, Chitwan Sunday afternoon. Dahal himself lit the funeral pyre. But he did not shave his hair and was attired in a black coat and a black trouser at the time of setting the pyre alight.
Dahal, who appeared very emotional, told journalists that his father was a symbol of honesty and revolution.
In his brief comments to media persons, Prime Minister Bhattarai said the deceased was a source of inspiration for communist movement and an important figure of peasants´ movement.
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