Centre should respect sentiments of Dr Singh’s family, Sikh community: Mayawati
Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) National President Mayawati on Saturday demanded that the Central government build a memorial in the name of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Dr Singh, India’s 14th Prime Minister and a globally respected economist, passed away on Thursday night at the age of 92 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
Known as the ‘Architect of India’s economic reforms,’ he served two consecutive terms as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014, leading the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
His last rites will be conducted with full state honours at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat, a public cremation ground, and President Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and other senior leaders are expected to attend.
Taking to X, Mayawati wrote on Saturday, “After the demise of Dr Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh Prime Minister of the country, the Central Government should arrange for his last rites to be performed and a memorial should be constructed in his honour at the place where it is the heartfelt desire of his family.”
“It is not right to do any politics for this and in these matters, it would be appropriate if the Central Government respects the sentiments of their family and the Sikh community as well,” she further said in the post.
This comes after the demand of the Congress, in which, it has appealed to the Centre to build a memorial at the funeral site itself.
A controversy surfaced regarding the allocation of space for Dr Singh’s memorial. Congress leaders criticised the decision to perform the last rites at Nigam Bodh Ghat instead of a location where a memorial could be established.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has reportedly spoken with Prime Minister Modi to discuss the possibility of creating a memorial at the same site where Dr Singh’s last rites are to be held.
At the heart of the issue is the Congress’ request for a dedicated memorial site for Dr Singh, despite the fact that previous Congress-led governments established a common memorial, Rashtriya Smriti Sthal, for the cremation of VVIPs.
This site, located between the memorials of Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri, has been the location for the last rites of former Prime Ministers since its inauguration in 2013. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also cremated there in 2018.
The Centre has clarified that a memorial will be allocated but stated that forming a trust and designating space for the memorial will take time. In the interim, the cremation and other formalities will proceed as planned.