Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, has criticized the Congress party for not convening a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting after her father’s death in 2020. She revealed on social media that the party had told her it wasn’t customary to hold such a meeting for a former president, which she dismissed as “utter rubbish.” She pointed out that a CWC meeting had been called after the death of President KR Narayanan in 2005, and the condolence message had been drafted by her father.
Her remarks came in response to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand for a dedicated space for a memorial for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. Sharmistha supported the idea of a memorial for Singh, stating that he deserved it, along with the Bharat Ratna, a recognition her father had intended to confer on him during his presidency, though it never happened.
In parallel, the Congress raised concerns over the lack of a location for Manmohan Singh’s cremation and memorial, calling it a deliberate insult to the country’s first Sikh prime minister. The Union Home Ministry responded by confirming that space would be allocated for a memorial and communicated this to Singh’s family and Kharge.
Singh, who led the UPA government from 2004 to 2014, was credited with key economic reforms and was a respected figure in Indian politics.
