JAIPUR: Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday accused the NDA government of creating an "unnecessary controversy" over the cremation and memorial of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Gehlot claimed that it was under public pressure that the BJP government announced plans to build a memorial for Singh in the future.
Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday night. He was 92.
"The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has created an unnecessary controversy over the cremation and memorial of a great personality like Dr Manmohan Singh," Gehlot said on X.
The former Rajasthan chief minister further stated that the people of the country have expressed their displeasure over this step of the government, and then, under the pressure of public sentiment, the BJP government announced to build a memorial in the future.
"The Government of India is conducting the cremation of a respected personality at Nigam Bodh Ghat instead of any special place. In 2010, after the death of former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, without any demand from the BJP, the Congress government spoke to his family and immediately allotted a special place for his last rites in Jaipur, and a memorial was built there," Gehlot said.
After the death of Bal Thackeray in Maharashtra in 2012, the Congress government allotted a special place in Mumbai's Shivaji Park for his last rites, he noted.
The former CM said that while Congress has always given respectful farewells to leaders of all parties, such behaviour by the BJP toward Manmohan Singh is "unfortunate".