Karnataka Cong pays tributes to Manmohan Singh at the venue planned for convention
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Congress on Friday paid tributes to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who died on Thursday, at the site where they planned mega convention here for the centenary celebrations of the 1924 Indian National Congress session presided by Mahatma Gandhi.
Several Congress leaders including its President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, attended the extended Congress Working Committee meeting planned as part of the centenary celebrations, here on Thursday.
They were scheduled to address a mega convention named 'Jai Bapu- Jai Bhim - Jai Samvidhan' here today, but the event was cancelled following Singh's demise. Kharge, Gandhi and several AICC leaders have rushed back to Delhi.
Other leaders including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, state ministers and legislators paid floral tributes to Singh's portrait at the venue planned for mega convention.
Siddaramaiah in his address said, Manmohan Singh was a great economist and a very humble human being.
"He was soft natured, soft and less spoken. I had the opportunity to meet him several times as the Leader of Opposition and Chief Minister of Karnataka. He treated and spoke to everyone respectfully and heard everyone patiently and used to say directly whether something told or requested of him will either happen or not," he said.
Singh was an honest Prime Minister, the CM said, he had occupied various positions in his career and did justice to them, and tried to find solutions to various problems faced by the country.
Recalling his tenure as finance minister in Narasimha Rao government and as prime minister for ten years, Siddaramaiah said, he opened up the economy, lifted the country financially, and the nation cannot forget his contribution.
It was Singh who brought in the food security act, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Right to Education, Right to Information, Siddaramaiah said, "He tried to lift the people of the country socially and economically. He was a cultured, gentlemanly politician. His death is a loss to the entire world..."
Shivakumar lauded Manmohan Singh's economic policies and contribution for the country's progress. He asked the Karnataka Higher Education Minister to explore the possibility of setting up a big research centre on Singh's economic policy at the Bengaluru University.
"We will make necessary decisions on this at the government level and in the cabinet," he said, noting that Singh's policies touched upon all sections of the society. "He might have passed away, but his programmes are still alive. We shall all walk in the path that he has laid down."
Shivakumar said, K C Venugopal asked him to try and connect Manmohan Singh to the extended Congress Working Committee meeting virtually but former prime minister's office informed him that he was unwell and about to be moved to AIIMS in New Delhi.
"When the AICC president was hosting a dinner on Thursday night, Rahul Gandhi received a phone call informing that Singh's condition had deteriorated. We immediately halted the dinner at 9.50 pm and I was officially asked to halt all the events including the mega convention scheduled for Friday," he said.
Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, died in New Delhi on Thursday night. He was 92.
Singh's death was announced by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, where he was admitted in the Emergency ward around 8.30 PM in a critical condition.
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Not having memorial for Manmohan Singh deliberate insult to India's 1st Sikh PM: Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi, Dec 27: The Congress on Friday said that not finding a location for the cremation and memorial for Manmohan Singh is a deliberate insult to the country's first Sikh prime minister.
The Congress raked up the issue after the Union home ministry said in a statement that Singh's last rites will be held at New Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat at 11:45 AM on Saturday with full state honours.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said party president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to conduct Singh's last rites at a location where a memorial could be built to honour his legacy.
"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," Ramesh said in a post on X.
"This is nothing but a deliberate insult to the first Sikh Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh," the Congress leader said.
Kharge wrote the letter after speaking to Modi about setting up a memorial for Singh, who was a two-term prime minister revered by the people of the country.
"Apropos our telephonic conversation today morning, wherein I made a request 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 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," Kharge said in his two-page letter.
The Congress chief said Dr Manmohan Singh holds a highly revered place in the psyche of the country and the people of this nation, and his contributions and achievements were phenomenal.
He also said that Dr Singh's erudition on economic and fiscal matters came from his vast experience as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, chief economic advisor to the government of India and in various other capacities in several organisations, and the respect and regard that world leaders had for him bears testimony to this fact.
Kharge said Singh's wise counsel, leadership and contribution in mitigating the global economic financial crisis is well-acknowledged. He also recalled President Obama's words when as the US president, he mentioned that "whenever the Indian prime minister speaks, the whole world listens to him".
He also said that when the nation was in the throes of a grave economic crisis, it was Dr Manmohan Singh, along with former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, who took India out of the crisis and also led the country towards economic prosperity and stability.
The nation today reaps the benefits of the robust economic foundations built by them, Kharge noted.
"Coming from a humble background and having experienced the pains and sufferings of the Partition, it is through his sheer grit and determination that he rose to become one of the leading statesmen of the world. I hope and trust that befitting stature of Dr Manmohan Singh, request to have the funeral of Dr Singh at a place where his memorial can be built, will be acceded," Kharge said in the letter.
Congress Legislature Party leader in Punjab assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa also separately urged Prime Minister Modi to have Manmohan Singh's funeral at a place where a memorial could be built later in his honour.
"I urge Prime Minister @narendramodi to honour Dr Manmohan Singh, one of the most towering Sikhs of modern times, with a memorial befitting his immense contributions to our nation. Rising from humble beginnings in a historic state, representing a community that has always stood steadfast for India's unity and progress, Dr Singh's life is a testament to intellect, integrity, and selfless service," he posted on X.
Bajwa said Punjabis across faiths and political lines unite in their heartfelt plea to recognise this son of Punjab, who played an instrumental role in shaping India's destiny, with the respect he deserves.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed the Centre has "declined" the request of Manmohan Singh's family for performing the funeral and last rites at a place where an appropriate memorial may be built.
There is no official word from the government on Kharge's request.
However, Badal took to X to post, "Shocking and unbelievable! It is condemnable in the extreme that Union Govt has declined the request of Dr Manmohan Singh Ji's family for performing the funeral and last rites of the highly distinguished leader at a place where an appropriate and historic memorial may be built to commemorate his unparalleled services to the nation."
He further said this place should be Raj Ghat.
"This will be in keeping with the settled practice and tradition followed in the past," Badal said.
He said it is "inexplicable" why the government is "showing such disrespect to the great leader who was the only member of the Sikh community to rise to become the Prime Minister".
"As of now, the cremation is slated to be performed at the common cremation ground at Nigambodh ghat. I am unable to believe that the BJP govt's bias would go to such extremes in utter disregard of the towering global stature which Dr Manmohan Singh ji enjoyed and will always enjoy," Badal further said in his post.
He said Singh took the country to great international heights.
"Our political differences with the Congress apart, we have always held Dr Manmohan Singh in the highest esteem as he transcends politics and political affiliations. He belongs to the entire nation.
"Dr Sahib showed great sensitivity and compassion in his dealings with Shiromani Akali Dal over Sikh and Punjab issues," said Badal urging Modi to "intervene personally to change this deplorable decision of the government".
Singh passed away on Thursday night at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at the age of 92.
आज सुबह कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष ने प्रधानमंत्री को पत्र लिखकर प्रस्ताव दिया था कि पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री डॉ. मनमोहन सिंह का अंतिम संस्कार ऐसे स्थान पर किया जाए जहां उनकी विरासत का सम्मान करने के लिए एक स्मारक बनाया जा सके।
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 27, 2024
हमारे देश के लोग यह नहीं समझ पा रहे हैं कि भारत सरकार उनके वैश्विक…
