George Fernandes in handcuffs raising his hand in defiance is one of the most enduring photographs of the Emergency era and a portrait of that iconic image adorned a corner of a room at his home where his body was kept in a glass casket.
An hour-long prayer service was held Thursday at Fernandes' residence -- Shanti Niwas -- at Panchsheel Park with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visiting the family again before the cremation slated at 3 pm, a family friend said, adding his son, Sean, has arrived from the US for the last rites.
The oil painting in black and white is surmounted by a board that bears the message -- 'A Leader for Every Indian - George Fernandes' -- while flower petals lay showered beneath the frame kept on a table.
A host of leaders and admirers have sat next to that image to pen their tribute in words in a journal kept next to bowls of flower petals.
On Wednesday, Padmanabh Shetty, who was one of the persons arrested, along with Fernandes, in what is known as the Baroda Dynamite case, was among the visitors, who streamed at his house, to pay their tribute to the departed leader.
Pointing to the portrait, Shetty had said, "George Fernandes in handcuffs raising his hand in defiance, while he was being produced at the Tees Hazari court in Delhi for the trial, is one of the most famous and enduring images of the Emergency era."
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