Martyred soldier Rajesh Orang was buried on a plot gifted by his uncle at Belgoria in Birbhum’s Mohammedbazar on Friday as the army man’s impoverished family didn’t have land on their own and local people wanted the resting place near the main road at the village.
Rajesh was among 20 Indian soldiers who died in a physical clash with Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday night.
The tribal youth’s mortal remains reached the village near the Jharkhand border on Friday morning from the army base in Panagarh. Jawans of the Indian Army offered gun salute to the martyr in the presence of at least 8,000 villagers and a cross-section of politicians.
The local people said Rajesh had been born in sharecropper’s family who owned no land near the road leading to the village to bury him according to tribal traditions. The Belgoria residents said they wanted to build a tomb in Rajesh’s honour and insisted that he be buried near the main road.
“As we looked for land near the main road, we learnt his uncle Gopinath Orang had a suitable plot. Villagers approached him for the land and he gifted a portion for the burial of his nephew,” said a senior police officer.
Gopinath is also a marginal farmer who owns less than half an acre.
“We are also poor but we have a small plot. When everyone wanted to build a tomb in memory of Rajesh, my father immediately donated the land. Now, we can see him while going out or returning to the village,” said Surajit Orang, a cousin of Rajesh.
Nirmal Orang, who lives at Belgoria’s adjoining tribal hamlet of Raspur, said: “We want to build a permanent memorial to the brave soldier and are happy to bury him where we wanted to.”
The villagers said they would raise funds to build the tomb on the grave of their beloved son-of-the-soil very soon. “The family is very poor and we are ready to construct a tomb on the grave of Rajesh. The local administration will also help us,” said Rabin Soren, secretary of Birbhum Adivasi Gaona, an apolitical tribal outfit in Birbhum.
District magistrate Moumita Godara Basu and police chief Shyam Singh were present till the last rites were completed. Father of Rajesh, Subhas Orang, who fainted several times when he saw the son for the last time, requested the officials to bury him with the coffin.
The state government handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to Subhas on Friday, while CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty gave the family a cheque for Rs 1 lakh on behalf of the party.
Since Friday morning, a large number of police personnel had been deployed to manage the crowd of around 8,000 people who had come to attend the last rites.
