Sharmistha Mukherjee Critiques Congress's Proposal for Dr. Manmohan Singh Memorial
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Kolkata, Dec 28 (NationPress) Sharmistha Mukherjee, the daughter of the late former President Pranab Mukherjee, has taken issue with the proposal made by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which calls for a unique memorial for former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Dr. Manmohan Singh passed away due to age-related ailments at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday night, at the age of 92.
In her statement on X, Sharmistha asserted that when her father and the former Indian President passed away in August 2020, the leadership of Congress did not even make an effort to hold a condolence meeting with the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
She accused Congress leaders of misleading her regarding this matter during that period.
According to her, a prominent Congress member informed her that memorials are not for Indian Presidents. Describing this reasoning as utter nonsense, she referred to her father's diaries, which revealed that a meeting of the CWC was convened upon the death of another former Indian President, K.R. Narayanan, with condolence messages crafted by none other than Pranab Mukherjee himself.
Sharmistha Mukherjee also referenced a post by C.R. Kesavan, which pointed out how Congress had overlooked other party statesmen simply because they were not part of the Gandhi family.
This discussion also referenced a chapter in the book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ written by Dr. Singh’s media advisor from 2004 to 2009 and former editor-in-chief of Financial Express, Dr. Sanjaya Baru. The book noted that the Congress-led UPA government never established a memorial in Delhi for former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, who died in 2004.
In the book, it was highlighted that Congress failed to construct a memorial for Rao despite being in power from 2004 to 2014. Furthermore, Baru claimed that Congress did not want Rao’s cremation to take place in New Delhi, preferring instead his native Hyderabad.
