New Delhi: Hours after the Congress approached the BJP-led NDA Government to build a memorial for Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, daughter of ex-President Pranab Mukherjee, Sharmishtha Mukherjee on Friday took to X, saying that the party did not even call a CWC meeting to condole the death of her father, who was once a senior Congress leader.
Sharing a message of BJP leader CR Kesavan, she wrote, “When baba passed away, Congress didn’t even bother to call CWC for condolence meeting. A senior leader told me it’s not done for Presidents. That’s utter rubbish as I learned later from baba’s diaries that on KR Narayanan’s death, CWC was called and condolence message was drafted by baba only”.
Ironic that Congress wrote for memorial: CR Kesavan
“It is indeed ironic that a Congress President is writing to PM Narendra Modi about traditions and the funeral place becoming the sacrosanct venue for a memorial. One should remind Kharge how the Congress led UPA Government never built a memorial in Delhi for former PM Narasimha Rao, who passed away in 2004,” Kesawan wrote while sharing the Congress’ letter to the Government, urging for a memorial for Ex-PM Manmohan Singh.
He added, “Only PM Modi in 2015 instituted a memorial for Narasimha Rao and honoured him posthumously in 2024 with the Bharat Ratna. Media advisor to Manmohan, Sanjaya Baru claimed in his book that the Congress did not want Rao’s cremation to take place in Delhi, but rather in Hyderabad, and that he had been approached to convey this to Rao’s children. The cremation did take place in Hyderabad, with Rao’s body not even laid in state at the All India Congress Committee’s headquarters. The historical sins of the unprincipled Congress will never be forgotten nor forgiven by our nation.”
Kharge writes letter to PM Modi
Earlier on Friday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging that the last rites of the former PM be held at a location suitable for making a memorial in his honour. “Apropos our telephonic conversation this morning, wherein I requested to hold Dr Manmohan Singh’s last rites, which will take place tomorrow i.e. 28th December 2024, at his final resting place that would be a sacrosanct venue for a memorial of the great son of India, ” Kharge write.
