Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 28: The mortal remains of the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was consigned to flames with full state honours at the Nigambodh Ghat, a public cremation ground in Delhi, in the presence of a large number of mourners and admirers.
Singh’s funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh amid the chanting of religious hymns. Several politicians, including President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, among others attending the ceremony.
The former prime minister’s final journey began from the Congress headquarters, where party leaders and workers paid their last respects. Singh’s mortal remains were placed in a flower-bedecked vehicle and security personnel and party workers walked along the funeral route to finally reach Nigambodh Ghat around 11.30 am. Draped in the Tricolour, the flower-bedecked casket was placed on a raised platform at the ghat where leaders cutting across party lines laid wreaths on Singh’s mortal remains.
Manmohan Singh died of age-related medical complications at the age of 92 on Thursday night. He had been in poor health for the last few months. Known as the ‘architect of India’s economic reforms’, Dr Singh was the Prime Minister for two terms in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2014.
Many world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim, have expressed condolences over the death of Dr Singh. King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Mauritius Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful were among the foreign dignitaries who paid tributes to Singh.
Several chief ministers also attended the last rites of Singh. These included Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, besides Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
Former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel were also present, apart from AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and several former Union ministers.
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and chiefs of the tri-services also laid wreaths. Before the mortal remains of Singh were consigned to flames, the security forces gave a 21-gun salute to the former PM. Sikh priests and Singh’s family members recited verses from the Gurbani before performing his last rites.
Earlier, Congress leaders paid homage to their departed leader at the AICC headquarters, where the body was placed for an hour to enable workers to have the last glimpse of their leader. Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were among those who laid wreaths there as well as later at Nigambodh Ghat.
Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur and one of their daughters also laid a wreath on his body. The three daughters of Singh — Upinder Singh, Daman Kaur and Amrit Kaur — along with other relatives were present. The vehicle carrying the mortal remains of Singh left his residence a little before 9 am and reached the Congress headquarters before moving ahead to Nigambodh Ghat in a procession amid chants of “Manmohan Singh Amar Rahe”.
A large number of Congress workers and leaders along with hundreds of Singh’s well-wishers walked along chanting “Jab tak suraj chand rahega, tab tak tera naam rahega”.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also accompanied the procession, sitting alongside Singh’s relatives in an Army truck just ahead of the casket carrying Singh’s mortal remains. Later he was also among those who carried the body of the former PM to the pyre.
The Centre has declared a seven-day state mourning as a mark of respect to Dr Singh. During this period, the national flag will be flown at half-mast across India. The Congress has also declared that all official programs of the party, including the Foundation Day celebration, will be cancelled for the next seven days and will resume on January 3.
Born in 1932, Dr Singh studied at the University of Cambridge in the UK where he earned a First Class Honours degree in Economics in 1957. He also had a degree in Economics from Nuffield College at Oxford University. Dr Singh became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1991 and was the Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004. He was awarded India’s second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1987.
