Accusing Congress of trying to politicise the demise of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, BJP National President and Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Saturday alleged that the grand old party never showed respect to the former prime minister when he held the office.

The reaction of Nadda came after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
accused the Union government of “insulting” former Prime Minister Dr Singh by performing his last rites at Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated memorial site for national leaders.

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Slamming the Congress, Nadda said “It is indeed very unfortunate that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and current Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge are not refraining from doing politics even on the sad demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Congress, which never gave respect to Dr. Manmohan Singh while he was alive, is now doing politics in the name of his respect.”

Addressing the media, the BJP National President hit out at the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, saying that “Rahul Gandhi had insulted the former PM Dr Manmohan Singh by tearing the ordinance, and today the same Rahul Gandhi is doing politics over the veteran Congress leader’s demise.”

Nadda also criticised the Gandhi family for not showing respect to other prominent leaders of the country, citing examples of Dr BR Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, and others.

The BJP National President pointed out that the PM Modi government had established a memorial for former PM PV Narasimha Rao in 2015, despite former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s earlier rejection of the proposal, and highlighted the lack of respect shown by Congress after the death of Dr. Pranab Mukherjee in 2020.

“The Gandhi family has neither given respect to any big leader of the country nor done justice to them. Whether it is from the Congress party or the Opposition, whether it is Baba Saheb Ambedkar, the country’s first President Rajendra Babu, Sardar Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, PV Narasimha Rao, Pranab Da, Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” he said.

Adding further, Nadda said, “The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given place for PM Manmohan Singh’s Samadhi and has also informed the family. Still, Congress is spreading false news.”

“It is necessary to remember the history of Congress. After the death of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, there was a demand to build a Samadhi Sthal in Delhi’s Rajghat complex. But at that time Sonia Gandhi had rejected it. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who established a memorial for him in 2015. When former President Bharat Ratna Dr. Pranab Mukherjee passed away in 2020, the Congress Working Committee did not even bother to call a condolence meeting,” the BJP National President
said.

“Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress leaders should refrain from such cheap politics,” Nadda said.