Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 92, will be laid to rest on Saturday with full state honours. Dr. Singh's last rites will be performed at the Nigambodh Ghat, on the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi, and not at a dedicated place, as the Congress had sought to build a memorial for the late PM in the future.
However, following the controversy, the Union government on Friday night said that space for the memorial will be allocated after completing the formalities. According to the government, a trust has to be formed first, and space for the memorial has to be allocated to it.
Earlier in the day, the Congress had alleged that the denial of a befitting space for the cremation of Dr. Singh was "a deliberate insult to the first Sikh Prime Minister of India".
"The people of our country are simply unable to understand why the Government of India could not find a location for his cremation and memorial that is befitting of his global stature, record of outstanding achievements, and exemplary service to the nation for decades," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.
In his letter to PM Modi, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge had sought that Dr. Singh's final resting place should be a sacrosanct venue for the memorial of the great son of India, in keeping with the tradition of having memorials for statesmen and former Prime Ministers at the very place of their funerals.
According to reports, in line with the decision the Manmohan Singh government took in 2013, the memorial of the former PM would be built at 'Rashtriya Smriti', at the Samadhis Complex on the Yamuna bank near Rajghat, where the memorials of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other former Presidents and PMs have come up.
For more news and current affairs?from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.