Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Last Rites To Be Held Today.
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Summary: The last rites of Manmohan Singh will take place at Nigambodh Ghat in Delhi on December 28.
The final rites for Dr. Manmohan Singh will take place at about 11:45 a.m. today. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi paid their respects at the Congress headquarters in the nation's capital after the former prime minister's body was taken there.
Dr. Manmohan Singh, the former prime minister, died Thursday night at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at the age of 92. Singh led the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government headed by the Congress from May 2004 to May 2014. He was the first Sikh to serve as Prime Minister of India and the 13th Prime Minister overall.
In observance of Dr. Singh, the Center has declared a seven-day nationwide state of mourning. India's national flag will be at half-mast during this time. In addition, the Congress announced that all of the party's official events, including the Foundation Day celebration, would be suspended for the next seven days and reopened on January 3.
The Center and Congress are at odds about how much space should be set up for Dr. Singh's monument. The Congress objected to the choice of Nigambodh Ghat for the last rites rather than a site for a monument dedicated to him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge discussed the potential of building a memorial for Dr. Singh at the location of the funeral services.
Kharge wrote a letter, “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. This is in keeping with such tradition of having memorials of statesmen and former prime ministers at the very place of their funerals.”
Replying to this the BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan said, “It is indeed ironic that a Congress President is writing to PM Narendra Modi ji about traditions and the funeral place becoming the sacrosanct venue for a memorial. One should remind Kharge ji how the Congress-led UPA government never built a memorial in Delhi for former PM Narasimha Rao ji, who passed away in 2004.”
The Center also informed Mr. Kharge and Dr. Singh's family that a spot for Dr. Singh's memorial would be set aside. However, it said that because a "trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated," cremation and other formalities can occur in the meantime.
