New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be cremated with full national honors at Nigambod Ghat on the banks of the Yamuna river here on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry’s announcement was controversial, with parliament saying the government had turned a deaf ear to calls for his final rites to be performed in a suitable location for his memorial. Congress called the decision a “deliberate insult to India’s first Sikh Prime Minister”.
The government said in the morning that it had received a request from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to “allocate space for a memorial” to Mr Singh. Immediately after the cabinet meeting, Home Minister Amit Shah informed Kharji and the families of the late Dr Manmohan Singh that the government would allocate space for the memorial, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a press release. Cremation and other formalities may take place in the meantime. Because you need to form trust and allocate space to it. ”
Mr Kharge spoke to the prime minister and then followed up with a letter. Government sources said that in separate conversations with the Prime Minister and the Shah, Mr Kharji “assessed” the view that the monument’s location could not be immediately determined, but then Parliament chose to indict the government. It is said that he did.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said in an evening statement: “The people of India simply cannot understand why the Government of India has failed to find a cremation and memorial site befitting his global stature and outstanding achievements.” . and has provided exemplary service to the nation for decades. ”
In his letter to Modi, Mr. Kharge asked that Mr. Singh’s last rites be performed at the site where a memorial will be erected. “I have also written a letter to the home minister,” Kharge told the parliamentary working committee that met to pay tribute to Singh.
Kong says the crematorium is not suitable for the former prime minister’s stature.
When Prime Minister Kharji briefed the CWC about his demands and his interactions with Prime Minister Modi, Gandhi family officials said that cremation could take place at Shakti Sthal or Veer Bhoomi, the burial grounds of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Sources said it even hinted that it might take place. Sources said Kharge had conveyed that the prime minister had referred the matter to the home minister, with the message that the issue would be considered later.
However, the government’s announcement that he would be cremated at Niganbod Ghat later in the evening upset the Congress, with the party deeming the decision to cremate Mr Singh at a place where former chief ministers have not been cremated befitting his stature.
Government officials said Congress was making false claims. “The Prime Minister and Mr. Shah briefed the Congress President on the issue in detail and emphasized that the government is in line with the Congress and all others regarding construction of a suitable memorial to former Prime Minister Singh,” the official said. said.
Meanwhile, SAD’s Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the Union government would “congratulate the family of Dr Manmohan Singh Ji on the location where a suitable and historic monument will be erected to commemorate his unparalleled contribution to the nation. “He refused the request to perform a funeral and last rites.” . He further added, “This place should be Rajghat… in line with the settled customs and traditions followed in the past.”
Earlier in the day, the Union Cabinet had decided that Mr. Singh’s state funeral will be held at 11.45 am on Saturday and half-day leave will be given to all central government agencies and central PSUs. The Home Office said the Ministry of Defense would make arrangements for a state funeral with full military honors.
Officials said that following a decision taken by the Manmohan Singh government in 2013, the monument to the former prime minister will be moved to Samadhi on the banks of the Yamuna river near Rajghat, where monuments to former prime ministers such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been erected. It will be built at ‘Rashtriya Smriti’ in the complex. The president and prime minister came out.
An official statement issued at the time said that another memorial built earlier for a deceased national political leader near Rajghat occupied a large space. “In view of the cabinet decision in 2000 that “the government shall no longer develop samadhi for deceased leaders” and the scarcity of land in the samadhi complex area, A ‘Rashtriya Smriti’ has been developed to perform the rituals of the deceased. In addition to providing space for future public gatherings, the Smriti area will also provide space for the last rites of deceased national political leaders. I plan to do so.” Said.
All the chief ministers were cremated in the capital, except for two-time interim chief minister Morarji Desai, Gulzarilal Nanda, Narasimha Rao PV and Deputy Prime Minister Singh.
