KOCHI: As hundreds gathered to bid an emotional adieu to veteran CPM leader MM Lawrence who died on Friday, Ernakulam Town Hall Monday witnessed dramatic scenes - a loud standoff ensued as both, the party, to which he devoted his life, and his daughter, who had a troubled relationship with him, laid claim to his body. The party, citing the leader's own wish and as befitting a dedicated communist, had donated Lawrence's body to Ernakulam medical college hospital. However, Lawrence's daughter Asha ML demanded that her father be buried at St Francis Xavier's Church in Kaloor, claiming that he had never been against religion and had over the course of his life - from his own marriage to the baptism of his children - adhered to Christian rites.
Asha and her son stood beside the coffin draped in red, adamant that they wouldn't allow anybody to shift the body to the medical college. CPM workers, on their part, surrounded the coffin and started shouting slogans. Eventually, Asha and her son were taken outside the hall and Lawrence's body was transported to Govt Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam, where it would be preserved in the mortuary, as directed by the Kerala high court till the principal of the medical college arrived at a decision considering Asha's objections as well as affidavits submitted by Lawrence's other children.
ML Sajeevan, Larence's elder son, said that the decision to hand over the body to the medical college was taken after considering the wishes of the departe.