A day after singing legend Lata Mangeshkar was cremated at the iconic Shivaji Park in Mumbai, Maharashtra BJP MLA Ram Kadam and state Congress president Nana Patole on Monday demanded a memorial for her at the site. However, the ruling Shiv Sena, an ally of the Congress in the state, said there should be no politics over the issue. The demand assumes significance as the sprawling park in Dadar is also the site where Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray was cremated in 2012. His memorial was built at the site despite opposition from civic groups.
Mangeshkar (92), a Bharat Ratna awardee, died in a hospital in Mumbai on Sunday morning after multi-organ failure. She was cremated at the Shivaji Park in the evening with full state honours. Kadam, an MLA from Mumbai, in a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, “On behalf of crores of Mangeshkar's admirers and music lovers, I humbly request you to build a memorial at the same place at the Shivaji Park where she was consigned to flames.”
The Congress, part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state, too, joined in the demand. “A memorial of international standard dedicated to Lata didi should be built and it should be located in the Shivjai Park,” Patole told reporters.
Patole said such a memorial will remind people from India and other parts of the world about Mangeshkar's melodious and timeless voice. Asked about the demand, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, whose party heads the MVA government and also controls the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, told reporters that the country has to think about a memorial dedicated to a great personality like Mangeshkar.
“Some people have made a demand to build didi's (Mangeshkar) memorial (at Shivaji Park). Please don't do politics (over it). She is ours…of the country and the world,” he said. There should be a museum of international standards dedicated to the 'melody queen', the Rajya Sabha MP said.
“The Maharashtra government and the Centre will surely build a fitting memorial because she was not a political leader, but an invaluable treasure,” the Sena's chief spokesperson said.
Raut claimed Mangeshkar called him last month after he addressed a press conference where he talked about former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and she appreciated the Sena MP's thoughts on the late BJP stalwart.
