The urn containing the ashes of freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma was on Sunday carried all over Mumbai in a procession headed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

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Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya joined Modi, who arrived in the city from Geneva with the ashes.

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Varma, who died in 1930, had executed a will that his ashes be preserved in a locker and taken to a liberated India.

The Gujarat government had decided to fulfil the last wishes of Varma on a plea by the Shyamji Krishna Varma Foundation and Somaiya.

The urn was carried to various places, including Wilson School in Girgaum, where Varma had studied. Public meetings were also organised at various places including Matunga, Dadar, Mulund, Ghatkopar to pay homage to Varma, who died in 1930.

At the August Kranti Maidan, where the urn were kept for public viewing, Modi said it was time that a distinction was made between national policy and national politics.

Describing Varma as a leader of international stature, he lamented that his urn was left neglected by the previous governments.

At a public rally at suburban Borivli, Modi recounted the great contribution of Varma in the freedom struggle.