Puthupally, a small town in Kottayam district, saw people pouring in on Thursday, July 20, to receive the mortal remains of late leader Oommen Chandy, brought in from Thiruvananthapuram. By afternoon, thousands waited for the arrival of the cortege at Oommen Chandy's family home and at his new house that is under construction. After nearly 30 hours of procession covering around 150 kms from Thiruvananthapuram to Puthupally, he was laid to rest at St George Orthodox Church, Puthupally, on Thursday, July 20, at around 11.30 pm.
Former Kerala Chief Minister and Congress veteran Oommen Chandy passed away on July 18 in Bengaluru, and his mortal remains were airlifted to Thiruvananthapuram the same day. In one of the largest farewells seen in the history of Kerala, thousands thronged the roads in the past three days to get a glimpse of their beloved leader for one last time.
According to the programme initially set by the Congress leadership and Oommen Chandy’s family members, the procession was to reach Puthupally by Wednesday evening, after starting from his residence – Puthuppally House – in Thiruvananthapuram's Jagathy at 7 am. However, massive crowds gathered to bid adieu to the leader along the entire stretch, delaying the procession by almost a whole day.
National and state leaders arrived in Puthupally to pay homage to the late leader. Congress leader and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and former Kerala CM AK Antony paid their last respects to Chandy at the church. Other prominent leaders like Opposition leader VD Satheeshan, KC Venugopal, Ramesh Chennithala, MM Hassan, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Benny Behanan, KC Joseph, Kadannapilly Ramachandran, Anwar Sadath, Bindu Krishna, BJP state president K Surendran, and Goa Governor Sreedharan Pilla were present among scores of other leaders from across party lines. Ministers VN Vasavan, KN Balagopal, Saji Cherian, Roshy Augustine, and P Prasad also attended the last rites.
Around 20 bishops from various churches and 1,000 priests led the funeral service of the late leader. He was interred at a space designated for priests at the cemetery in the church.