NEW DELHI, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- India has decided to immerse former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ashes in dozens of rivers across Uttar Pradesh, as a mark of respect to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader who represented the northern state's capital in parliament.
Vajpayee, the three-time Indian prime minister who died on Thursday after prolonged illness, was cremated with full state honors in the national capital Friday evening.
"Vajpayee's ashes will be immersed in rivers in all the districts of Uttar Pradesh as the state was his karmabhoomi (the land of action)," state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced soon after his funeral.
The former Indian prime minister, also a poet, was elected to Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament) from Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow five times in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004.
Vajpayee was the first non-Congress Prime Minister since India's independence from colonial Britain in 1947 to complete an entire term in office between 1999 and 2004. He was loved by almost all Indian politicians, cutting across party lines.
As per Hindu beliefs, after a body is cremated ,immersion of ashes in water is considered to be the holiest way to spiritually dispose the remains.
