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‘Congress did not even bother to call condolence meeting’ – Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha slams party leadership

According to Sharmistha Mukherjee, a senior Congress leader had informed her at the time of her father’s death that it was not a tradition for the party’s working committee to convene condolence meetings for deceased Presidents of India.

On 27th December, Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, criticised Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for proposing to create a separate memorial in Delhi for former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Notably, Kharge had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to allocate land in Delhi for the last rites of Dr Singh so that a memorial could be built later. Dr Singh passed away on the night of 26th December at AIIMS in Delhi due to age-related illness at the age of 92.

In a post on X, Sharmistha pointed out that when her father, former President Mukherjee, passed away in August 2020, Congress did not even bother to call the Congress Working Committee for a condolence meeting. She further accused the Congress party of misleading her on the matter. In her post, she wrote, “When Baba passed away, Congress didn’t even bother to call CWC for a condolence meeting. A senior leader told me it’s not done for Presidents. That’s utter rubbish as I learned later from Baba’s diaries that on KR Narayanan’s death, CWC was called and a condolence message was drafted by Baba only.”

According to her, a senior Congress leader had informed her at the time of her father’s death that it was not a tradition for the party’s working committee to convene condolence meetings for deceased Presidents of India. However, later she found out through her father’s diaries that a CWC meeting was in fact convened following the demise of former President KR Narayanan, and it was Pranab Mukherjee himself who had drafted the condolence message.

Sharmistha Mukherjee wrote the post while quoting former Congress leader CR Kesavan’s post on the social media platform X. Kesavan, in his post, highlighted how the Congress sidelines party leaders who were not part of the Gandhi family. Kesavan referenced the book written by Dr Sanjaya Baru, The Accidental Prime Minister, which noted that the Congress-led UPA government did not establish a memorial in Delhi for former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, who passed away in 2004. Kesavan had joined BJP in March 2024 and currently serving as National Spokesperson of the party.

Baru was Dr Singh’s media advisor from 2004 to 2009 and a former editor of The Financial Express. In his book, Baru alleged that despite being in power from 2004 to 2014, Congress never took the initiative to build a memorial for Rao in Delhi. Furthermore, it was also alleged that Congress was not in favour of Rao’s last rites taking place in Delhi and preferred that they occur in his hometown, Hyderabad.

Kesavan wrote, “The cremation did take place in Hyderabad, with Rao’s body not even laid in state at the All India Congress Committee’s headquarters. The historical sins of the unprincipled Congress will never be forgotten nor forgiven by our nation.”

Sharmistha had previously faced online attacks by Congress workers and supporters after the publication of her book ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers’ after which she wrote an open letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in February 2024 stating, “As you seem to be a torchbearer of Freedom of Expression, you should know that FoE involves not just praising someone, but also the ability to tolerate criticism gracefully. But you seem to have failed miserably to convince even your own followers of one of the most crucial Rights granted by our Constitution, which is also one of the core values of Congress. Your favourite slogan of ‘Nafrat ke Bazaar me Mohabbat ki Dukan’ also seems to fall on deaf ears of your own followers as they unleash all their ‘Nafrat’ on anyone daring to criticize you.”

Land to be allocated for Dr Singh’s memorial

On 27th December, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a fact sheet on the matter regarding the land for the memorial. In a press release, the MHA noted, “This morning, the Government received a request to allocate space for a memorial for former Prime Minister Late Dr Manmohan Singh from the Congress Party President. Immediately after the Cabinet meeting, HM Shri Amit Shah communicated to Congress President Shri Kharge and the family of Late Dr Manmohan Singh that the Government will allocate space for the memorial. In the meantime, cremation and other formalities can happen because a trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it.”

The government added that the cremation may take place at Nigambodh Ghat, a public crematorium.

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