Hundreds of thousands of mourners on Sunday attended the public cremation in Mumbai of Bal Thackeray, chief of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party. Thackeray, who called his followers "Hindu warriors" and was widely accused of stoking ethnic and religious violence, died aged 86 on Saturday, triggering a virtual shutdown of the city.
Huge crowds lined the route to catch a final glimpse of Thackeray, still wearing his trademark sunglasses, as his body was driven slowly to a park in central Mumbai where heaving masses had gathered throughout the day.
Police were out in force following the death of a politician whose party has a reputation for intimidation and unrest, though no trouble was reported.
Thackeray was accused by an official probe of inciting violence against Muslims in riots that claimed more than 1,000 lives in Mumbai in the 1990s, although he was never charged.
He won devotion from his Hindu working-class followers, who showered his hearse with flowers as it travelled to the pyre erected in Shivaji Park, arriving several hours late due to the vast turn-out.
"He got a fitting last journey, among his people and with a gunfire salute. For 100 years, Maharashtra (state) will not find another leader like him," said shopkeeper Arvind Ghote as the cremation was broadcast live on television.
Thackeray vociferously sought to defend the rights of local Marathi-speaking "sons of the soil" against "outsiders" from other parts of India or Bangladesh who came to work in Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra.
Jyotsna Parab, a housewife, said her life would "never be the same" as she wiped away tears.
"I cannot accept that he is no more. This was a man whose entire world revolved around protecting our rights," she said.
Thackeray had long courted big business and entertainment figures, and among the mourners were movie superstar Amitabh Bachchan and industrialist Anil Ambani.
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