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Hitting back at the Congress over its allegations of mismanagement at the state funeral of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said this was not the time to score "cheap political shots".
Congress leaders, led by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, have accused the BJP of insulting the former Prime Minister by organising the cremation ceremony at Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat.
In an interview with News Agency, Union Minister Puri said Mr Gandhi was trying to "mix facts with fiction". He said the day after Dr Singh's death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a cabinet meeting and it was decided that the former Prime Minister would be given a state funeral of the highest order. He said the Union Home Ministry also agreed to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's request for a memorial for Dr Singh. "There is a facility called Ekta Sthal which is a final resting place for four former Presidents and three former Prime Ministers. These are former Presidents Giani Zail Singh, Shankar Dayal Sharma, KR Narayanan and R Venkatraman, and former Prime Ministers Chandra Shekhar, IK Gujral and PV Narasimha Rao. This facility has place for nine, seven are occupied. But the request from the Congress clearly suggested they wanted more, and that request was accepted," he said.
Mr Puri then targeted the Congress over how it treated Prime Minister Rao, credited along with Dr Singh for India's historic economic reforms in 1991, after his death. "Mr Rao died on December 23, 2004, and the Congress party, which is talking about insult, did not allow the body to be taken to the AICC headquarters. Congress party has always viewed the party in terms of the dynamics of the ruling family. So Narasimha Rao's cremation took place in Hyderabad. It was only after Modi ji became Prime Minister that a place was provided (for his memorial)," he said.
Mr Puri said no one from the Gandhi family was present when Dr Singh's ashes were taken for immersion today. "I looked hard into that picture, even Congress party office-bearers, I did not see any of them. What are we discussing here?"
Congress sources have said Dr Singh's family wanted the immersion of ashes to be a strictly personal affair and that's why top leaders stayed away. Countering this, Mr Puri said, "We are not making an issue of it, but even if the family wants it to be purely personal affair, he is a departed Prime Minister. When you see pictures of late Atal Bihari Vajpayee's funeral procession, Prime Minister (Modi) walked the entire route, Home Minister Amit Shah did, Piyush (Goyal) walked. The whole issue comes down to how much the party wants to do. If the family does not want it, the party can't make an issue out of this. They are always looking to point fingers at something that was not done, everything was done."
The state funeral of Dr. Manmohan Singh was a shocking display of disrespect and mismanagement -
▪️No news agencies except DD were allowed; DD focused on Modi & Shah, barely covering Dr. Manmohan Singh's family.
▪️Only 3 chairs were kept in the front row for Dr. Singh's family.…
— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) December 28, 2024
Earlier, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said the state funeral of Dr Singh was a "shocking display of disrespect and mismanagement". In a point-by-point criticism, he said, "No news agencies except DD were allowed; DD focused on Modi & Shah, barely covering Dr Manmohan Singh's family. Only 3 chairs were kept in the front row for Dr. Singh's family. Congress leaders had to insist on seats for his daughters and other family members. PM & ministers did not stand up when the National Flag was handed to the widow of the late Prime Minister, or during the gun salute. The family was given inadequate space around the pyre due to soldiers occupying one side," Mr Khera said.
"Public was kept out, left watching from outside the venue. Amit Shah's motorcade disrupted the funeral procession, leaving family cars outside. The gate was closed, and family members had to be located and brought back in. Dr Singh's grandchildren performing last rites had to jostle for space to reach the pyre. Diplomats were seated elsewhere and were not visible. Shockingly, the PM did not stand when the King of Bhutan stood. The entire funeral area was cramped and poorly organized, leaving no space for many participants in the procession," Mr Khera added.
"This disgraceful treatment of a towering statesman exposes the government's priorities and lack of respect for democratic values. Dr. Singh deserved dignity, not this shameful spectacle," he said.
In his rebuttal to the charge that Nigambodh Ghat was not a fitting place for Dr Singh's cremation, Mr Puri referred to heavy rain in the national capital on Friday. "It was pouring, if you had taken any vacant land, you would first have to drain it. Whereas Nigambodh Ghat in terms of size is a VIP ghat, it has the size. Somebody told me Lodhi, Lodhi is too small," he said.
"This is a very low-level politicisation. The route was affected due to somebody's political convoy? For heaven's sake, I don't buy this argument. The remains of the former Prime Minister are being carried in a gun carriage and they will stop it for VVIP movement? I reject this completely," he said.
The minister blamed the Congress for the alleged mismanagement. "I was part of the funeral arrangements for Vajpayee ji. It was done by party karyakartas. Where were the Congress karyakartas. The Defence Ministry or whoever is providing the state funeral cannot handle the political aspect of it. This is politicisation. Let's not diminish the memory of the departed leader. These are not the discussions to be held to score cheap political shots," he said.
The minister said he was surprised that all Congress leaders were present for "photo op". "When the mortal remains came to the party headquarters, they should have satisfied themselves with the requirements, they should have gone to Nigambodh Ghat and told them two or three more people need to be seated etc," he said.
On Mr Gandhi's statement that this was an insult to the country's first Sikh Prime Minister, Mr Puri said, "I don't know where Sikhism comes into this. He was a Prime Minister who served the country with great distinction for 10 years. He was not appointed because he was a Sikh," he said.
The minister then referred to Mr Gandhi tearing up a piece of paper at a press conference while opposing the Manmohan Singh government's ordinance aimed at overturning a Supreme Court judgment on disqualification of MPs and MLAs convicted in a case that carried at least a two-year sentence. "Where was your respect for the Sikh leader when you tore up an ordinance? That Sikh leader wanted to resign," Mr Puri said, adding that Dr Singh was "very upset" after the episode. "To bring religion into this, you insult the man, you ignore him, when you had a farewell party for him, the young t-shirted leader didn't even show up. The Sikh community was very proud that one of them became Prime Minister of India. Dr Manmohan Singh bent backwards to accommodate these people," he said.
Referring to Operation Bluestar and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Mr Puri said, "I don't have to tell you what Congress party thinks of the Sikh religion or the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple in Amritsar) when they desecrated it. And when 3,000 people of my community were killed in cold blood in Delhi. Where was their respect for Sikh religion then? And the father of this young leader (former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) said that when a big tree falls, the ground shakes."
Rahul Gandhi has said that the government had insulted the country's great son and first Sikh Prime Minister. "He was India's Prime Minister for a decade during which it became an economic superpower and his policies are still the mainstay of the country's poor and backward classes. Till now, all former Prime Ministers were cremated at proper memorial venues so that every person can pay their tribute. Dr Manmohan Singh deserves the highest honour and a memorial. The government should have shown respect to this great son of India and his great community," he said.