Vajpayee funeral: Why Smriti Sthal was chosen as memorial site for leaders

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be cremated on Friday with full state honours in central’s Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on the banks of the Yamuna, the designated spot for the last rites of presidents, vice-presidents and prime ministers.

The last rites of the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader will be performed on an elevated platform, surrounded by greenery, at the national memorial located between those of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Shanti Van’ and Lal Bahadur Shastri’s ‘Vijay Ghat’.

The Smriti Sthal is a common memorial site that was proposed following concerns over shrinking land resources in the Capital. The Union cabinet gave its approval for the construction of Rashtriya Smriti Sthal near Rajghat for performing the last rites of departed national leaders as well as public gatherings at the Samadhis Complex near Ekta Sthal in New Delhi in May 2013.

The decision of not creating more memorials was taken in 2000 but it took 13 years for the government to earmark a single place for such leaders. Earlier, separate memorials were created for national leaders near Rajghat.

Former prime minister IK Gujral was also cremated at the Smriti Sthal in December 2012.

Police expect lakhs of mourners to reach central Delhi to pay homage to the leader who died at 93 in New Delhi on Thursday. The funeral procession is expected to start from the BJP headquarters at 1pm and the last rites would be performed at 4pm, party president Amit Shah said.

Thousands of policemen will form a multi-layer security cordon for a smooth passage of the funeral procession to the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal. Sniffer dogs, bomb detection and disposal squads, in coordination with officials from the Special Protection Group (SPG), sanitised the funeral route and the venue.

First Published: Aug 17, 2018 12:12 IST