'For Family's Privacy,' Clarifies Pawan Khera on Gandhis, Congmen's Absence During Manmohan's Ashes Immersion

As the ashes immersion rituals of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the BJP a handle to slam the Congress party and Gandhi over their absence, Pawan Khera issued a clarification on Monday stating that they deliberately gave it a miss to allow ‘privacy to the family’.

The Congress communications in-charge said that senior party leaders did not accompany the family to gather and immerse the ashes of Manmohan Singh out of our deference to the privacy of the family, however, Sonia as well as Priyanka Gandhi visited the family at their residence after the cremation for beloved departed leader, to share their grief.

Explaining the reason behind Gandhis and party brass skipping the ceremony, he said, “it was felt that since the family did not get any privacy at the time of the cremation and some extended family members could not reach the pyre site, it would be appropriate to give them some privacy for the Phool Chunana and the immersion of the ashes which is an emotionally painful and difficult ceremony for close family members.”

The ashes of former PM were immersed in the Yamuna river near the Majnu ka Tila Gurdwara on Sunday by his family members, as per Sikh rituals. The ashes were carried to the ‘Asht Ghat’ near the gurudwara, however, those who were conspicuous by their absence were the Gandhis and the Congress workers.

Soon after the ashes immersion, top BJP leaders called out the ‘hypocrisy’ of Congress brass and alleged that their expression of grief was only for ‘media attention’.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya slammed the Congress and its leaders for not accompanying Singh’s family to the cremation ground to collect ashes.

“Very sad to see that not a single member of Congress or the Gandhi family showed up to collect the remains of Dr Manmohan Singh Ji. For Media attention and to politicise, Congress was present, but they were absent when it came to honouring him with dignity. Truly shameful,” Malviya shared on ‘X’.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, another BJP senior leader flayed the Congress leaders for their absence during the rituals.

Congress spokesperson, speaking to IANS also slammed the BJP, accusing it of stoking a needless controversy during this time of grief for the family.

“Such times demand personal space and privacy for mourning the loss of closed ones. It’s unfortunate that that BJP is trying to politicise the issue,” he said, asking the latter to give family the space and refrain from giving every issue a twist for political mileage.