india

Updated: Jan 24, 2019 07:31 IST

G Parameshwara, deputy chief minister of Karnataka, took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday for not attending the funeral of Shivakumara Swami, the revered seer of Siddaganga mutt.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends celebrity weddings, meets movie stars but skips the funeral of our NaDedāDuva devaru, who dedicated his life to help the poor and the marginalised. Repeated requests to confer Bharat Ratna on him have gone in vain,” Parameshwara tweeted.

While inaugurating the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in Varanasi on Tuesday, Modi had said the country would always remember the seer’s work for mankind.

Soon after Shivakumara Swami’s death on Monday, PM Modi had tweeted that the seer had lived for the people, especially the poor and vulnerable and expressed his prayers and solidarity with the seer’s devotees around the world.

The 111-year-old seer of the Lingayat community was laid to rest on Tuesday with full state honours at the premises of the seminary he headed for over seven decades.

Lakhs of people bid a tearful adieu to their “Walking God on Tuesday. Shivakumara Swamiwas buried as “Kriya Samadhi”, according to Veerashaiva/Lingayat traditions, amid chanting of hymns.