"Everyone can see who is doing politics...": Congress leader slams BJP government over memorial place row

New Delhi [India], December 28 (ANI): Former Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of not fulfilling over the party's demand that cremation of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh should take place at a location where a memorial could be built to honour his legacy.
"The person who gave a lot of things to the nation...he worked for the nation and the nation-building... He balanced the economy...Everyone can see who is doing politics...He should get the respect and by not giving him a space, they (BJP) showed their level of politics," the Congress leader said.
Earlier, attacking the BJP, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu asked how the party would have felt if Atal Bihari Vajpayee had not gotten a memorial at Rajghat. He further said that this issue is not of one party but of the entire country's history.
"When a person dies, all enmity vanishes with him... but politics is being played here. I ask a small question: if Atal Ji's last rites were to be performed and someone had said that the memorial would not be built at Raj Ghat, it would be built somewhere else, how would you feel? ... This issue is not of any party but of the country's history," Sidhu said.
Congress had demanded a funeral at a place where a memorial to Singh could be built.
The Centre has said land for a memorial would be earmarked in the next few days.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suggesting that the cremation of Dr. Manmohan Singh, take place at a location where a memorial could be built to honour his legacy.
Manmohan Singh was accorded a state funeral with full military honours at the Nigam Bodh Ghat, a public cremation ground in north Delhi, on Saturday. (ANI)