A low-key man that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was, he would have preferred to go in silence rather than the ruckus created about his final resting place. By KUMKUM CHADHA
As the politics over Death played out in the national capital, the BJP seems to have scored over its arch rival: the Congress Party.
Not only did it undo the damage done to the memory of former leaders of the Congress but went a step further in doing what the Congress should have done: honored its dead.
Two names that stand out: former Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao and former President of India Pranab Mukherjee.
However, in the case of Dr Manmohan Singh, the Congress made an exception. Singh died last month.
A Sikh, Singh was the first from the minority community to occupy the high office.
An economist turned politician who rose to be India’s 13th Prime Minister, Singh liberalized the Indian economy and ushered in structural reforms that changed the face of the Indian economy which till then was in the throes of a crisis.
Therefore, it is not without reason that when people remembered Singh and wrote obituaries, two things that stood out were: his humility and his turning around the economy.
There were, of course, a few asides about his being a weak Prime Minister who was subservient to the “superpower”: the then Congress President Sonia Gandhi and a Government which was remote controlled by the National Advisory Council, also headed by Mrs Gandhi.
Ostensibly, the relationship between the two was cordial: Singh visibly indebted to Sonia Gandhi for literally giving him an office he never in his lifetime had ever thought he would occupy. But there are reports of there being disagreements, often strong ones. But let those truths be buried with him.
As for now, the Congress is demanding a separate memorial for Dr Manmohan Singh along the banks of the Yamuna river in New Delhi.
The Party also said that the late leader’s last rites should be conducted at the site designated to be the memorial at a later date.
This, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the Government, would be in keeping with the tradition of “having memorials of statesmen and former Prime Ministers at the very place of their funerals”.
The government, on its part, agreed to the request to allocate space for Dr Singh’s memorial but said it would do so at a later date. The Centre then told the Congress to conduct Dr Singh’s final rites at a public crematorium confirming that a space would be allocated for his memorial in the near future.
This was enough for the Congress to cry foul and allege that “the great son of Mother India and first Prime Minister of the Sikh community” to quote Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has been “totally insulted”.
Congressmen followed suit by alleging “mismanagement”; lack of space for Dr Singh’s family; and the general public being kept out of the venue and so on.
For record, Dr Singh was given a state funeral.
Not the one to take things lying down, the BJP hit back saying that the Congress was resorting to cheap politics.
It dug into recent History by saying that except for Dr Singh, the Congress had disrespected former Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao and former President Pranab Mukherjee.
Rao’s rites, it said, were not allowed to be performed in the national Capital. It was the BJP that built a memorial and conferred the Bharat Ratna on Rao.
Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter, Sharmistha too jumped in on grounds that the Congress did not even call a meeting to condole Mukherjee’s death.
So, the BJP did one better: not only did it allocate land for Singh’s memorial but went a step further and announced a memorial for Mukherjee too. It sanctioned a dedicated site within the Rashtriya Smriti complex for Mukherjee’s memorial. The complex is part of the Rajghat precinct.
Rashtriya Smriti Sthal is the designated spot for the last rites of Presidents, Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Mukherjee was the country’s 13thPresident. Till he attained the country’s highest office, he spent major part of his five-decade career in the Congress. That he had misgivings with the Party leadership headed by Sonia Gandhi is well known. If reports are anything to go by, Mukherjee was Sonia Gandhi’s last choice as the country’s President. But like one would say for Singh, such truths are best buried with the dead.
As for memorials, the Government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee had mooted a ban on converting bungalows into memorials.
In 2013, the Congress-led UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh decided that a common place would be developed for memorials of former Prime Ministers and dignitaries. At that point in time, VVIP samadhis were occupying over 245 acres of prime land in Delhi.
As for Singh, he would perhaps be turning in his grave at the hullabaloo, the mud-slinging and more importantly the dirty politics that has followed his death.
A low-key man that Singh was, he would have preferred to go in silence rather than the ruckus created about his final resting place.
When we say Rest in Peace or RIP for the dead, we pray for eternal peace for the departed. However, in modern times, like many things, this phrase too needs to be modified. Instead of Rest in Peace, it should be Let him Rest in Peace.
And this is what politicians have not allowed Dr Manmohan Singh to do: they have not Let Him Rest in Peace. We Indians, each one of us, owe him at least that.
In the face-off between the Congress and the BJP, it is, to put it mildly, politics at its ugliest.
Therefore, the question that stares all of us in the face is: are our political parties so bankrupt that they stoop to non-issues? Is politics over the dead the new norm? Can’t they unite in respect for those gone?
As things have panned out, this is how it appears. Be it a cremation site, a memorial or managing a state funeral those out of power find reasons to put those in power on the mat. And when it comes to the Congress versus the BJP it is clearly a no holds barred situation.
At one level, politics is fine and it is the business of the Opposition to oppose. So, on that count the Congress is doing its job.
But does this mean resurrecting its dead and indulging in petty politics? Does it mean pulling out people from their graves and using them to score political points? Does it mean we have reached a new low and will continue to dip further? And does it mean that we will continue ruffling feathers and not Let the dead rest in peace?
The argument is not about who is right or which Party is making sense or driving logic. The question is one of propriety; of how far should one be allowed to go, rather stoop, to use the correct term? And more importantly, should the dignity of the dead be compromised for politics?
To say that Dr Manmohan Singh was a dignified man is to state the obvious. Politically, he may have made compromises but at a personal level he valued both dignity and integrity. Therefore, to barter any of these when he is gone, is nothing short of besmearing his Memory.
