The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday cancelled the launch of its manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh election as a mark of respect for singer Lata Mangeshkar, who died earlier in the day.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya observed a two-minute silence in Mangeshkar’s honour in Lucknow city.

The BJP’s Uttar Pradesh chief Swatantra Dev Singh said that on account of the singer’s death, the release of the manifesto has been postponed, and a new date will be announced soon.

“A personality like hers comes once in centuries,” Singh said at a function in Lucknow. “Her death is an irreparable loss not just to the field of music, but social life as a whole.”

The BJP’s unit in poll-bound Goa cancelled all political programmes in the state, including a rally where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to speak. The launch of the party’s manifesto in Goa by Union minister Nitin Gadkari has also been postponed.

Meanwhile, the Congress has asked its workers not to engage in any kind of celebration following the announcement of the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab election, India Today quoted unidentified sources as saying.

At a virtual rally in Ludhiana on Sunday, the Congress will pay tribute to Mangeshkar and play her song “Ae mere watan ke logon” at the event, the sources added.

The playback singer died at a hospital in Mumbai on Sunday morning. She had been hospitalised on January 8 following a diagnosis of pneumonia and Covid-19. Although she recovered from both illnesses, she continued to be under observation at the hospital.

Mangeshkar will be cremated with full state honours at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on Sunday evening