Centre to allocate space for ex-PM Manmohan Singh's memorial: MHA

The government will allocate space for a memorial of former prime minister Manmohan Singh and this has been communicated to his family and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Union home ministry said on Friday night.

In a late-night release titled "Facts of the matter regarding memorial for Former Prime Minister Late Dr Manmohan Singh", the ministry said the government received a request to allocate space for a memorial for Singh from the Congress chief.

Immediately after the Cabinet meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah communicated to Kharge and the family of Manmohan Singh that the government would allocate space for the memorial.

In the meanwhile, cremation and other formalities can happen because a Trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it, the home ministry said.

Singh, who headed the Congress-led UPA government and is credited with economic reforms, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92.

He was India's prime minister for 10 years between 2004 and 2014.

The Congress on Friday said that not finding a location for the cremation and memorial of Singh was a deliberate insult to the country's first Sikh prime minister.

The party raised the issue after the home ministry said Singh's last rites would be held at New Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat at 11.45 am on Saturday with full state honours.