NEW DELHI: Amid the row between the BJP and the Congress over a memorial to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Modi government has allocated a site for a memorial to Congress leader and former President Pranab Mukherjee, who passed away in 2020.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in a letter to Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha, said a site within the Rajghat precincts had been earmarked for a memorial to the former President.
“The competent authority has approved the earmarking of a designated site within the Rashtriya Smriti complex (a part of the Rajghat precincts) for a samadhi of the late Pranab Mukherjee,” said the letter, dated January 1.
Sharmistha, a former Congress leader, met PM Narendra Modi to thank him for the step. “Called on hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji to express thanks and gratitude from the core of my heart for his govt’s decision to create a memorial for baba. It’s more cherished considering that we didn’t ask for it. Immensely touched by this unexpected but truly gracious gesture by the PM,” Sharmistha wrote on X.
“Baba used to say that state honours shouldn’t be asked for, these should be offered.
I’m so grateful that PM Modi did this to honour baba’s memory. It doesn’t affect baba where he is now — beyond applaud or criticism. But for his daughter, words are not sufficient to express my joy,” Sharmistha added in a second post.
Meanwhile, the matter pertaining to finding a suitable site by the government for a memorial to Manmohan Singh seems to have hit a limbo with no progress having been made on that front.
“There is currently no update to give,” Manmohan Singh’s eldest daughter Upinder Singh said.