While Sanjay Gandhi has a memorial in Delhi, former deputy prime minister Singh has no memorial “anywhere in India”. With the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party locked in a tussle over the final resting place of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on December 26, who gets to erect a memorial and where it will be erected will be a matter of concern at the time. It is often a factor that determines the seizure of power.
Congress has called the fact that Singh’s cremation took place at Nigambodh Ghat, which is open to the public, an “insult to India’s first Sikh prime minister”, but the Narendra Modi government has no plans to honor the architect. He said it is in progress. A monument to India’s liberalization that will soon receive a befitting monument.
Sources said a trust would first be set up for this purpose, whose members would likely include both parliament and the government. The trust will work with the government to identify a space for the monument. Officials said Singh’s memorial could be built near the Sanjay Gandhi memorial next to Jawaharlal Nehru’s in Shanti Van. Rashtriya Smriti Sthal, a memorial site for fallen leaders, and Kisan Ghat, which houses a memorial to former Prime Minister Charan Singh, are also being talked about as other options.
Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s monument next to the Yamuna River in Delhi, provided a template for resting places for other leaders. A black marble slab marks the spot where Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948. When Nehru passed away in May 1964, a space adjacent to the Raj Ghat was allocated for his last rites and his memorial named Shanti Van. The second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who served a short term from 1964 to 1966, also built a monument called the Vijay Ghat near the Raj Ghat.
Gulsarilal Nanda, who took over as caretaker prime minister following the unexpected deaths of Nehru and Shastri, has built a memorial called Abhay Ghat in Ahmedabad (the place where they died). Nanda last held public office in 1971 and died 27 years later in January 1998. At that time, politics at the Center was in flux as the IK Gujral-led government had collapsed and a general election was about to take place.
Ahmedabad also has a monument to Morarji Desai called Narayan Ghat. Desai, who belonged to Gujarat, led the first non-Congress government at the Centre. The Janata Party leader replaced Indira Gandhi as prime minister in post-Emergency elections and held the post from 1977 to 1979. He died in 1995. At that time, the Congress government led by PV Narasimha Rao was in power at the Center.
monument in delhi
Charan Singh, who replaced Desai as prime minister with Congress support, also served as prime minister for a limited period from July 1979 to January 1980, but upon his death in May 1987, Raji A cremation site was secured near the ghat. The place was designated as Kisan Ghat. At the time of his death, the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government was in power.
When Sanjay Gandhi died in June 1980 when the plane he was piloting crashed in Delhi, his last rites were performed inside the Smriti Van Memorial. In that place is Sanjay’s samadhi. The government at the Center was led by his mother, Indira Gandhi.
When Indira herself was murdered in October 1984 and Rajiv took over as Prime Minister, her last rites were performed at a designated location near Raj Ghat named Shakti Sthal.
After Rajiv was assassinated by a suicide bomber in May 1991, his last rites were also performed in space next to Raj Ghat and a memorial to him named Veer Bhoomi was erected. At the time, a campaign was underway for a general election, and the Congress gained power through public opinion polls.
But Narasimha Rao (1991-96), the first non-Gandhi to lead a full Congress government at the Center, did not get a memorial in Delhi. He died in 2004 during Manmohan Singh’s Congress Party government, but his body was famously not allowed to be kept at the party office so people could pay their respects. He was eventually cremated in Hyderabad (Rao belonged to the united Andhra Pradesh state at the time).
Finally, when Narendra Modi came to power in 2015, his government built a memorial to Rao called Gyan Bhoomi.
Two years ago, the center decided not to create a separate memorial for the deceased leader, citing lack of space as about 245 acres of land in central Delhi was already filled with memorials. The government responded to the request not to establish one. The Manmohan Singh-led government has decided to set up ‘Rashtriya Smriti Sthal’ as a communal facility along the Yamuna river for future memorials.
The proposal for a joint facility was first mooted in 2000 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was heading the Bharatiya Janata Party government, but it was eventually passed by Manmohan Singh’s cabinet.
It is within this Rashtriya Smriti Sthal complex that a monument dedicated to Rao stands.
Chandra Shekhar, who led the Congress-backed minority government from November 1990 to June 1991, died in July 2007 and was cremated inside the Ekta Sthal complex. His monument was renamed ‘Jannayak Sthal’ by the Modi government in 2015.
IK Gujral, who served as the Prime Minister of the United Front government from April 1997 to March 1998, has a monument dedicated to him in the Smriti Sthal complex. Gujral, a longtime member of the Lok Sabha, passed away in November 2012.
Vajpayee, the first BJP leader to become prime minister (he served as prime minister three times, but only for one full term from 1999 to 2004), also died in Delhi in August 2018. A monument was erected. The Modi government gave Vajpayee a grand send-off: His monument was named Sadaiva Atal.
Apart from former prime ministers, Delhi has monuments to former presidents Giani Zail Singh (Ekta Sutar), former presidents Shankar Dayal Sharma (Karma Bhoomi) and former presidents R. Venkaratharaman ( Most of them are around the Raj Ghat Memorial Complex). Former Vice President Krishan Kant. Former Deputy Prime Ministers Jagjivan Ram (Samata Sutar) and Devi Lal (Sangharsh Sutar). Former President KR Narayanan (Uday Bhumi). Former Prime Minister Shastri’s wife Lalita (next to his monument at Vijay Ghat).
Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, has a monument called Mahaprayan Ghat in Patna (which was part of the state of Bihar). Dr BR Ambedkar’s monument called Chaitya Bhoomi is located next to Dadar Chowpatty in Mumbai.
The former Congress minister said the monument’s name reflects what the late leaders most symbolized.
Thus, if Raj Ghat signified Gandhi’s status as a forger of the Indian nation, Nehru’s Shanti Van signified his pursuit of peace as his goal as a leader, and Shastri’s The Vijay Ghat symbolizes his victory over Pakistan in 1965 and Indira’s Shakti Sthal is parallel to her projection. “Strong leader.” Rajiv’s Veer Bhoomi highlights his assassination through a terrorist attack, while Charan Singh’s status as a farmer leader is marked by the Kisan Ghat. Rao’s ‘Gyan Sutar’ monument marks his credentials as a scholar and polyglot.
On whether there was a memorial to Vice President Singh anywhere, his son Ajeya told The Indian Express: “There is no memorial at all.” He also said this when a statue of him was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin last year.
Vice President Singh, who during his brief stint as Prime Minister (1989-1990) threw Indian politics into irreparable turmoil with the implementation of the Mandal Commission, is the only deceased former Prime Minister without a monument. It is.
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