A political row broke out on Saturday as the Congress alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government had “totally insulted” former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by carrying out his cremation at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat instead of a designated spot that could be later turned into his memorial.

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

Singh was cremated on Saturday morning with full state honours.

In a social media post later, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: “The great son of Mother India and the first prime minister from the Sikh community has been totally insulted by the BJP-led Centre by performing his last rites at the Nigambodh Ghat.”

“Till date, respecting the dignity of all former prime ministers, their last rites were performed at authorised burial sites so that every person could pay homage without any inconvenience,” he added.

The Centre should have “shown respect to this great son of the country and his proud community”, said the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

Responding to the Congress’ allegations, BJP national president JP Nadda accused the Opposition party of “politicising” Singh’s death, reported ANI.

“It is indeed very unfortunate that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and current president Mallikarjun Kharge are not refraining from doing politics even on the sad demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” Nadda was quoted as saying. “Congress, which never gave respect to Dr Manmohan Singh while he was alive, is now doing politics in the name of his respect.”

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also stated that the Centre did injustice to the dignity of the post of former prime minister, “the personality of Manmohan Singh, his legacy and the self-respecting Sikh community”.

“The government should have thought beyond politics and narrow-mindedness in this matter,” she said in a social media post.

On Friday, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal also alleged 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.

The Union government said later in the day that it had accepted a request made by the Congress seeking the allocation of space for Singh’s memorial. This came hours after the Opposition party alleged that the Centre had not heeded its request for Singh to be cremated at a location where a memorial could be built to honour his legacy.