The Union government on Friday said that it has accepted a request made by the Congress seeking allocation of space for a memorial for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The statement by the Union home ministry came hours after the Opposition party alleged that the Centre had not heeded to its request for Singh to be cremated on Saturday at a location where a memorial could be built to honour his legacy.

The former prime minister died in New Delhi on Thursday. He was 92.

The Union government has declared seven-day mourning and said that Singh will be accorded a state funeral. The funeral will take place on Saturday morning at the Nigam Bodh Ghat in New Delhi, the home ministry said.

On Friday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and requested for Singh’s funeral to be held at a “sacrosanct venue” where a memorial can be built for the “great son of India”.

In a social media post, Kharge said he had submitted a letter to Modi about the party’s request.

Singh held a “highly revered place in the psyche of the country and the people of this nation”, adding that the former prime minister’s contributions and achievements were phenomenal, Kharge said. “The nation today reaps the benefits of the robust economic foundations he built,” the Congress chief added.

A memorial would be a fitting tribute to a leader who rose from humble beginnings to become a statesman of his stature, Kharge said.

Hours later, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the country was “unable to understand why the Government of India could not find a location for his cremation and memorial that is befitting of his global stature, record of outstanding achievements, and exemplary service to the nation for decades”.

Ramesh said that this was a “deliberate insult” to the first Sikh prime minister.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal also alleged on Friday that the Union government had declined a request made by Singh’s family to perform the former prime minister’s last rites at a location where an “appropriate and historic memorial may be built to commemorate his unparalleled services to the nation”.

Badal said that space at Delhi’s Raj Ghat should be allocated for the memorial. “This will be in keeping with the settled practice and tradition followed in the past,” the former Punjab deputy chief minister said on social media.

“It is inexplicable why the government is showing such disrespect to the great leader who was the only member of the Sikh community to rise to become the prime minister,” he said on Friday. “As of now, the cremation is slated to be performed at the common cremation ground at Nigambodh ghat.”

Badal said he was unable to believe that the “bias” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party would “go to such extremes in utter disregard of the towering global stature” that Singh held. He urged Modi to “intervene personally to change this deplorable decision” by the Union government.

Late on Friday, the Union government acknowledged that it had received a request from the Congress to allocate space for a memorial.

The home ministry said that immediately after the Cabinet meeting on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had informed Kharge and Singh’s family that the government will allocate space for the memorial. “In the meanwhile cremation and other formalities can happen because a trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it,” said a statement.

Also read: How Manmohan Singh took to economics, and got interested in politics, in college