Former President Pranab Mukherjee to get memorial at Delhi’s Rajghat complex

Incidentally, the Central government’s move comes on the heels of a controversy over erecting a memorial for late former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the Congress initially alleging that its request for a resting place in Delhi for Singh had not been honoured by the government.

The government later clarified that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had informed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Singh’s family that the government would allocate space for the memorial. While sources in the Government said it has identified three potential sites – Ekta Sthal, Vijay Ghat and Rashtriya Smriti Sthal – for the memorial, there is no official word yet from the government on this.

Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha told The Indian Express that she received a letter from the Government informing her about the decision on January 1.

“The letter came to me on January 1. So it was really the best New Year gift I could have got. My heart is full and I am very, very happy. I want to express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this decision,” she said.

The letter from the Land and Department Office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to her states: “The Competent Authority has approved the earmarking of a designated site within the Rashtriya Smriti complex (a part of the Rajghat precinct) for erecting a Samadhi of Late Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India.”

PM Narendra Modi with former President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee in New Delhi. (Image source: X/@Sharmistha_GK)

She called on Prime Minister Modi Tuesday and thanked him for the decision. “It’s more cherished considering that we didn’t ask for it. Immensely touched by this unexpected but truly gracious gesture by PM… Baba used to say that State honours shouldn’t be asked for, it should be offered. I am so grateful that PM Modi did this to honour baba’s memory. It doesn’t affect baba where he is now – beyond applaud or criticism. But for his daughter, words are not sufficient to express my joy,” she said in a post.

The Rashtriya Smriti Sthal was set up as a common memorial site for former Presidents and Prime Ministers. It includes the memorial to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mukherjee was a dyed-in-the-wool Congressman, who came to the national political scene in 1969, went on to become one of the stalwarts of the Congress and finally rose to become the President of India. But the BJP government’s decision to earmark a designated site for erecting a memorial for the veteran is politically interesting.

In 2019, the Government conferred Bharat Ratna on him. And last year, the Government bestowed the same honour on former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, another lifelong Congressman. Incidentally, both had testy relations with the Gandhi family. In fact, Mukherjee’s daughter just some days ago claimed that the Congress did not ever bother to call a meeting of the Congress Working Committee after her father’s death for passing a condolence resolution.

Mukherjee as President also enjoyed a very cordial relationship with Prime Minister Modi. So much so that Mukherjee in his farewell speech in Parliament said he had strived to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not just in word but also in spirit and “in this task, I greatly benefitted from the advice and co-operation extended by Prime Minister Modi at every step”.

On the other hand, Mukherjee’s visit to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur in 2018 on the invitation of the outfit to deliver an annual lecture did not go down well with his former party.