Poor mentality: Himanta Biswa Sarma slams Congress for politicising Manmohan Singh's 'last journey'

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma described the late former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a great leader and slammed the Congress for allegedly politicising his passing just days after the leader's cremation.

"All I want to say is that Dr Manmohan Singh was a great leader, he served our country a lot. The politics that Congress has done on the last journey shows their very bad mentality... The same Congress party insulted Pranab Mukherjee ji, when Manmohan Singh ji was the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi insulted him and that is in the public domain," CM Himanta Biswa told reporters here.

"Congress party has no issue... Congress has started politics in this too...," he added.


On Sunday, Assam CM visited and offered prayers at the NarayShila Temple in Haridwar.

After the Cabinet meeting on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed Congress President Kharge and the late Singh's family that the Government would allocate space for a memorial. Meanwhile, cremation and other formalities were to be conducted as a trust needed to be formed and space allocated for the memorial.

Manmohan Singh was accorded a state funeral with military honours at the Nigam Bodh Ghat, a public cremation ground in north Delhi, on Saturday.

Congress had demanded that the funeral take place at a location where a memorial could be built. The Centre stated that land for the memorial would be earmarked in the next few days.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that Singh's cremation take place at a location suitable for a memorial to honour his legacy. Manmohan Singh passed away at AIIMS, Delhi, on Thursday night at the age of 92 due to age-related medical conditions. He had a sudden loss of consciousness at home, after which he was rushed to the hospital. (ANI)