At Zubeen Garg's Village In Assam, Why Rahul Gandhi Recalled Mount Kanchenjunga Visit

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recalled a time when he saw Mount Kanchenjunga as he paid tribute to Assam's cultural icon Zubeen Garg today at the site where the singer's family performed the last rites in Guwahati's Sonapur.

Zubeen Garg often took the name 'Kanchenjunga' in his social commentary. His film 'Mission China' had a famous dialogue: "I don't have community, I don't have a religion, I am free, I am Kanchanjangha."

Gandhi said he saw Mount Kanchenjunga for the first time when he was 17, and liked the mountain's "transparent and unshakeable" aura.

"When I was 17 years old, I went for a mountaineering course in Sikkim. And every day when we would go for training. I would see Mount Kanchenjunga in front of us. And what I liked about the mountain was that it was honest, transparent, unshakable and beautiful," the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

"Today, while I was coming, Gaurav [Gogoi] said Zubeen ji called himself Kanchenjunga, and immediately it connected to me that he was Kanchenjunga because he had the qualities of Kanchenjunga," Gandhi said of the famous singer whose death in Singapore is under investigation.

Gandhi offered a 'gamosa', the traditional Assamese scarf, and a wreath at the platform where the singer was cremated. He then planted a 'nahor' (Indian rose chestnut) sapling, which the singer was fond of, at the cremation ground.

"It's a tragedy that the whole state has faced. I spoke to the family, and they only said one thing to me, that 'we have lost our Zubeen and all we want is the truth should be clear'. It is the duty of the government to quickly investigate what happened in Singapore and tell the family the whole truth," Gandhi said.

Apart from Gogoi, Assam Congress in-charge Jitendra Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia and other party leaders accompanied Gandhi.

Welcoming Gandhi in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma yesterday said Gandhi's tribute to Zubeen Garg came 28 days after the singer's death - but it was still ''better late than never''.

"We expected a senior Congress leader like Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi or someone else to be present at the singer's cremation," the chief minister had said at a press conference.