CAPTAIN AMARINDER BEREAVED AS MOTHER PASSES AWAY IN PATIALA

-SONIA, RAHUL, OTHER CONGRESS LEADERS CONDOLE DEATH OF RAJMATA
-RAJMATA WAS A PROGRESSIVE LADY WHO WANTED THE BEST EDUCATION FOR HER KIDS
-LAST RITES OF RAJMATA TO BE PERFORMED AT SHAHI SMADHAN PATIALA ON TUESDAY
Chandigarh, July 24, 2017: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has been bereaved following the sad demise of his mother, Rajmata Mohinder Kaur, who passed away in her Patiala home this evening.
A former Congress MP, Rajmata Mohinder, aged 96, had been keeping unwell for some time. She breathed her last at the family’s Moti Mahal residence in Patiala at 7.24 p.m., as a result of multiple system failure triggered by a natural weakening due to old age, according to an official spokesperson.
Captain Amarinder has rushed to Patiala to perform the last rites, which will be conducted on Tuesday. The cabinet meeting and other programmes scheduled for tomorrow stand cancelled, an official spokesperson said.
Rajmata had not been keeping too well for some months and had even been hospitalised in PGI Chandigarh in March this year after Gastro-Intestinal bleeding. She is survived by two sons and two daughters.
Mohinder Kaur, wife of the late Maharaja of Patiala, Yadavindra Singh, was born in Ludhiana, undivided Punjab, to Sardar Harchand Singh Jaijee, a nobleman of Patiala State and a member of the Patiala Riyasat Praiya Mandar (Patiala State Peoples’ Forum, an affiliate of the Indian National Congress). She got married at the age of 16 in 1938.
A former member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rajmata had been actively involved in various political, social and other philanthropic activities.
Several dignitaries from across the country have mourned the death of the royal matriarch.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders of the Congress called up the Chief Minister to express their condolences.
These include Governor of Punjab VP Singh Bhadnore, Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana KP Singh, Deputy Speakr Ajaib Singh Bhatti, state’s Ministers Brahma Mohindra, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Manpreet Singh Badal, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa,. Sadhu Singh Dharmsot,. Charanjeet Singh Channi. Razia Sultana and Aruna Chaudhary, besides several party MLAs and MPs.

Senior Advisor to CM Lieutenant General (Retd) TS Shergill, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral and Advisor to CM BIS Chahal have also expressed their grief and shared their heartfelt sympathies with the bereaved family and relatives.
The Punjab State IAS Officers' Association and Punjab Civil Services Officers' Association also condoled the death of Rajmata.

RAJMATA WAS A PROGRESSIVE LADY WHO WANTED THE BEST EDUCATION FOR HER KIDS
Chandigarh, July 24, 2017: Late Rajmata Mohinder Kaur was a progressive lady who laid immense importance on her children’s education.
Captain Amarinder’s authorised biography – The People’s Maharaja – by Khuswant Singh, quotes the Late Rajmata as saying “it was the Maharaja’s and my desire that our children obtain the best possible education.” She further says, referring to Captain Amarinder, “I felt it was important for the yuvraj to go to a boarding school at the earliest. With his sisters already in the boarding, he would have felt lonely at home. In fact, my younger son Malvinder went at a younger age than Amarinder. He couldn’t adjust at home once all the children had left.”
Both Rajamata and Maharaj felt education was important not only for development and progress but also for moulding one’s character and imbibing values that would last a lifetime.
With her philanthropic bent of mind, Rajmat was involved in several social works. Soon after independence she worked for PEPSU – an organisation that offered food and medical help to refugees following the partition of the country. She entered politics in 1964 and got elected to Parliament for the first time in 1967.
The family shifted to Netherland in 1971 when her husband was appointed India’s ambassador in that country. She returned to Patiala after her husband’s death and was since living at their New Moti Bagh Palace residence. She later dedicated her life to social causes.

LAST RITES OF RAJMATA TO BE PERFORMED AT SHAHI SMADHAN PATIALA ON TUESDAY
Chandigarh, July 24, 2017: The last rites of Rajmata Sardarni Mohinder Kaur would be performed at Shahi Smadhan in Patiala on Tuesday.
Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said that the last rites of Rajmata would be performed at Shahi Smadhan in accordance with the tradition of Patiala Royal Family. The body of Rajmata would be kept in Motibagh Palace for people to keep their respects.
The spokesperson further said that funeral procession of Rajmata would start from Moti Bagh Palace at 12:45 pm and would culminate at Shahi Smadhan to enable the people to have glimpse of their beloved leader.