New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who breathed his last on December 27, Thursday will be cremated with full military honours at the Nigam Bodh Ghat here on Saturday. “Dr Singh will be accorded a Stae Funeral and the defence ministry has been requested to make arrangements for military honours for the cremation”, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.  The last rites will be performed at 11:45 AM, with dignitaries, political leaders, and citizens expected to gather to pay their final respects to the former PM, who played a pivotal role in shaping India’s economic landscape.

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct the last rites of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a place where a memorial for him can be built. In a letter to PM Modi, Kharge urged PM Modi to set up a memorial for Singh.

“Apropos our telephonic conversation today morning, wherein I made a request to hold Dr Manmohan Singh’s last rites, which will take place tomorrow i.e. 28th December 2024, at his final resting place that would be a sacrosanct venue for memorial of the great son of India. This is in keeping with such tradition of having memorials of statesmen and former Prime Ministers at the very place of their funerals,” Kharge said in his two-page letter.

The Congress chief added that Dr Manmohan Singh holds a highly revered place in the psyche of the country and the people of this nation, and his contributions and achievements were phenomenal. He also said that Dr Singh’s erudition on economic and fiscal matters came from his vast experience as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, chief economic advisor to the government of India and in various other capacities in several organisations, and the respect and regard that world leaders had for him bears testimony to this fact.

Kharge said Singh’s wise counsel, leadership and contribution in mitigating the global economic financial crisis is well-acknowledged. He also recalled President Obama’s words when as the US president, he mentioned that “whenever the Indian prime minister speaks, the whole world listens to him”.

He also said that when the nation was in the throes of a grave economic crisis, it was Dr Manmohan Singh, along with former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, who took India out of the crisis and also led the country towards economic prosperity and stability.

The nation today reaps the benefits of the robust economic foundations built by them, Kharge noted.

“Coming from a humble background and having experienced the pains and sufferings of the Partition, it is through his sheer grit and determination that he rose to become one of the leading statesmen of the world. I hope and trust that befitting stature of Dr Manmohan Singh, request to have the funeral of Dr Singh at a place where his memorial can be built, will be acceded,” Kharge said in his letter to Modi.