DC Edit | Pranab memorial: Act of grace

Having decided to build a memorial for former President Pranab Mukherjee, the Union government has chosen a site for it at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in Rajghat. The way in which the Congress Party politicised the issue over a spot to cremate former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to find a site for his memorial had left a bad taste in the mouth, more so because the gentleman PM himself may have wanted none of it, so self-effacing was he in an important office he held for two terms. The Congress Party’s anxiety to honour its favourites is understandable though it did not apply the same yardstick to a former Prime Minister in Narasimha Rao who may, however, not have kowtowed to the party’s first family as much as his successor did, even if Manmohan did so only in his understated ways to keep things rolling smoothly in party and government. Regulations to be put in a handbook of how to handle funerals and build memorials for Presidents and Prime Ministers may be welcome, much as Presidents of the US and UK’s royalty do in addressing the issue even when they are alive without being superstitious or sentimental about it.