The daughter of Brigadier Lakhwinder Singh Lidder, Defence Adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, bid a tearful goodbye to him at the Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment on Friday. Brigadier Lidder was one of the 13 people who died in the military helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor on Wednesday. The tragic chopper crash also claimed the life of CDS General Rawat and his wife. Brigadier Lidder’s daughter Aashna remembered her father as a hero, a great motivator and her best friend.
“I am going to be 17. So, he was with me for 17 years, we will go ahead with happy memories. It is a national loss. My father was a hero, my best friend. Maybe it was destined and better things will come our way. He was my biggest motivator,” Aashna told ANI.
Geetika Lidder, the wife of Brigadier Lidder, said that he should be given a smiling send-off.
“We must give him a good farewell, a smiling send-off, I am a soldier’s wife. It’s a big loss,” she added.
The last rites of Brigadier Lidder were performed with full military honours at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment.
During the last rites, Geetika Lidder was seen in tears, kneeling by the head of her husband’s coffin, which was draped with the national flag and decked with flowers. The brigadier’s daughter was by her mother’s side, fighting back tears while paying her last respects to her father.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had wreaths on the mortal remains of Brigadier Lidder before his last rites.