After Narasimha Rao, Centre plans memorial plaque for Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai led the Janata Party government from March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979.

Late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao will not be alone to make it the Ekta Sthal Samadhi Complex. The government has decided to also give a plaque honouring late Prime Minister Morarji Desai at the hallowed place as well.

Also Read: NDA govt plans a memorial for former PM Narasimha Rao

“We have decided to accord full honour to all former Prime Ministers,” Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told The Indian Express here on Wednesday. He said Narasimha Rao was, of course, a great leader and a great Prime Minister, who was in office for full five years, but it would not be fair to say that the government wished to place on record only his contribution to the county. Naidu added that commemorative plaques will be erected in the name of all former Prime Ministers who had been left out. Morarji Desai led the Janata Party government from March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979. He died at Mumbai at the age of 99 in 1995.

No matter how hard the BJP-led government may try packaging it as a harmless move, the message inherent in it would not be lost on anyone. Considering that the UPA regime had forced Rao’s family to cremate him at Hyderabad and the Congress had not got even his mortal remains in to party headquarters on the Akbar Road, the NDA proposal is obviously aimed at embarrassing the Congress. The underlying message is that the NDA is undoing an injustice done to Rao after his death.

Successive governments have failed to follow a clearly-defined uniform policy vis-a-vis the last rites of people who have held the two top offices of the President and the Prime Minister.

Source:: Indian Express