A sea of people from all walks of life bid an emotional adieu to late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as his body was consigned to flames at 6 pm amid chants of verses from Hindu religious texts.

Thousands followed the funeral procession of the late CM as his body was taken to Miramar beach for cremation on Monday evening.

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The streets were choked with people, many of whom were seen visibly crying as the mortal remains of the 63-year-old Parrikar were taken in a flower-decked hearse from Panaji’s Kala Academy.

Wrapped in tricolour, Parrikar was accorded a state funeral with full military honours as the crowds raised slogans of Vande Mataram.

Military personnel marched with the Parrikar’s cortege, who also served as the Defence Minister of the country from 2014-2017. Several serving officers of the armed forces paid their respects to Parrikar at the Miramar beach.

Earlier today, ordinary Goans and BJP workers lined up to pay tributes to the Chief Minister at the party headquarters as well as Kala Academy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Parrikar at the Kala Academy and met his family members, including his two sons, and offered his condolences to them.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman also met Parrikar’s family members.

The final rites of Parrikar were performed at the Miramar beach, next to the memorial of Goa’s first Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar, who was also cremated there.

Known as the common man’s chief minister, Parrikar passed away following a long battle against pancreatic cancer that left a visible impact on his health. He is survived by two sons and their families. His wife had passed away in 2000 to cancer.

The four-time Chief Minister had been on life support system since late Saturday night. The Chief Minister’s Office had on Sunday tweeted that his condition had turned “extremely critical”. Before his demise, Parrikar’s relatives, senior government officials and political leaders had visited him at his private residence in Dona Paula.

The four-time Goa Chief Minister is credited with turning the military into a modern, well-equipped force during his relatively short stint as Defence Minister.

The IIT-Bombay graduate, who remains the first IIT-ian to become an MLA, was at the helm of major defence deals, including the Rafale, aimed at giving the armed forces the much-needed modern weapons.

He took major policy decisions on welfare of military personnel, including the passage of OROP.

He was sent back to Goa when the BJP failed to get majority in the assembly polls of 2017. Back in his home state, Parrikar was able to succeed in forging an alliance with Goa Forward Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to form the government with him as the CM again.

Though he was never able to complete a full five-year term in any of his four terms as CM, Parrikar became the most beloved Chief Minister of the state due to his no-nonsense approach to work and his extremely simple lifestyle – a particular trait that endeared him to the common people.

The central government has announced national mourning on Monday. The state government announced seven-day mourning.