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Hours after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s mortal remains were consigned to the flames, the Congress and the government traded fresh charges Saturday over a site for his memorial in the Capital.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led the Congress attack, saying the government had “insulted” Singh by getting his funeral done at the Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground.
Union Minister and BJP president J P Nadda struck back, accusing the Congress of spreading false information despite the fact that the government had shortlisted a space for Singh’s memorial and had also informed his family about it.
While Nadda stopped short of revealing the site of the proposed memorial, The Indian Express has learnt that a space near Kisan Ghat, which marks the cremation site of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, is among the locations being considered for Singh’s memorial.
Earlier, the Congress, while urging the government to allocate a place for a memorial, had even suggested that space could be carved out of the Shakti Sthal area where Indira Gandhi’s memorial is located – both Kisan Ghat and Shakti Sthal are not far from Rajghat, the resting place of Mahatma Gandhi.
On Friday night, after the Congress alleged that its request for space for a memorial to Singh had not been honoured, the government said it had agreed to the request.
In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had informed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Singh’s family that the government would allocate space for the memorial. “In the meanwhile, cremation and other formalities can happen because a trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it,” the Ministry said.
The Congress, in fact, wanted Singh’s cremation at a place where a memorial could be built in his honour.
Incidentally, it was the UPA government headed by Singh that had blocked demands for separate memorials. In 2013, the UPA Cabinet decided to set up a common memorial ground – the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal at Raj Ghat – in view of paucity of space.
On Saturday, after Singh’s last rites at Nigambodh Ghat, the Congress again targeted the government, saying it had “insulted” the former Prime Minister.
Rahul Gandhi said that by getting Singh’s last rites done at Nigambodh Ghat, the government had “insulted” the “great son of Mother India and the Sikh community’s first Prime Minister”.
“Till date, honouring the dignity of all former Prime Ministers, their last rites were performed at authorised burial sites so that every person could have the last darshan and pay homage without any inconvenience. Dr Manmohan Singh deserves our highest respect and a memorial. The government should have shown respect to this great son of the country and his proud community,” Gandhi said.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too slammed the government: “By not providing an adequate place for the cremation of Dr Manmohan Singh, the government has not done justice to the dignity of the post of a former Prime Minister, the personality of Dr Singh, his legacy and the self-respecting Sikh community.”
“Earlier, all former Prime Ministers were given the highest honour and respect. Dr Manmohan Singhji deserves this honour and Samadhi Sthal. Today the whole world is remembering his contribution. The government should have thought beyond politics and narrow-mindedness in this matter,” she said.
“This morning, I felt this when I saw Dr Manmohan Singhji’s family members struggling for space at the funeral site, trying to find space in the crowd, and the general public inconvenienced due to lack of space and paying tribute from the road outside,” Vadra said.
In a series of posts on X, AICC media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera said that no news agency except Doordarshan was allowed entry inside Nigambodh Ghat and it focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, barely covering Singh’s family.
Singh’s family, he said, was given inadequate space around the pyre due to soldiers occupying one side. He said the public was kept out and Singh’s grandchildren, performing the last rites, had to jostle for space to reach the pyre.
Khera claimed that Amit Shah’s motorcade disrupted the funeral procession, leaving family cars outside. The gate was closed, and family members had to be located and brought back in.
“The entire funeral area was cramped and poorly organised, leaving no space for many participants in the procession,” he said. “This disgraceful treatment of a towering statesman exposes the government’s priorities and lack of respect for democratic values. Dr. Singh deserved dignity, not this shameful spectacle,” he said.
DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin too targeted the Congress and said the BJP government’s decision to deny Singh’s family the right to perform his last rites at a befitting site for his memorial was a direct insult to his towering legacy and the Sikh community. Refusing the family’s request and relegating a two-term Prime Minister to Nigambodh Ghat reeks of arrogance, bias and a deliberate attempt to erase his immense contributions from public memory, Stalin said.
Countering the charges, Nadda said the Congress party, which failed to give genuine respect to Singh during his tenure, was now using his name for political gains.
He said it is the same Congress that compromised the dignity of the Prime Minister’s office by making Sonia Gandhi a “super PM” to overshadow Singh’s authority.
“Rahul Gandhi’s act of publicly tearing up an ordinance remains an unprecedented instance of disrespect towards a sitting Prime Minister (Singh),” Nadda said, accusing Gandhi of now doing politics over the death of Singh.
He said Modi established the Prime Ministers’ Museum to honour all PMs and to make the nation know about them and treasure them.
“On the other hand, the Congress only focused on building memorials and monuments for members of their own family,” he said, adding that the Gandhi family has never given due respect or justice to any leader outside their family.
The Gandhi family, Nadda said, insulted leaders of other Opposition parties and even of the Congress. He said Congress leaders and supporters continuously insulted former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee even after his death.
Stating that the Congress’s history needed to be learnt, Nadda said that after the death of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao on December 23, 2004, a demand was made to develop his Samadhi Sthal at Rajghat in Delhi, but Sonia Gandhi turned it down.
“His body was not given space in the Congress office. Congress did not want Narasimha Rao’s last rites performed in Delhi. Later, his last rites were done in Hyderabad,” Nadda said.
He said Modi in 2015 established a memorial for Rao and conferred him with Bharat Ratna in 2024. He said when former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away in 2020, the Congress Working Committee did not call a “shok sabha”.
“I want to remind Congress that in 2013, the UPA government had decided to set up a Rashtriya Smriti (common memorial ground) and had also decided that no separate Samadhi Sthal will be built for any leader,” he said.
