The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) governing body has accepted the Centre's request for a new museum dedicated to all Prime Minister's of India, and the Congress is up in arms alleging it as a plot by the BJP to wipe out the Congress' legacy.
The decision for a new museum was approved on Friday after an annual general body meeting of the NMML at the residence of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Currently, Teen Murti houses memorabilia and personal objects belonging to the first Prime Minister of independent India. The new museum would be built on the grounds of teen murti, which is owned by the Central government.
The idea was first floated by Prime Minister Modi in 2016, where he assured the NMML body that the Nehru legacy would not be affected. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who also chaired the meeting, said that the museum would come up only after consensus. He assured the current museum would be renovated. The new museum, which is expected to cost around Rs 270 crore, would not impact the NMML, the minister had said.
Preparation for the museum is already in full swing, with an in-house research team being constituted to evaluate the suggestions made by a team of consultants from Delhi University and Banaras Hindu University.
NMML director Shakti Sinha earlier said that the new museum would be designed as a "temple of democracy" to honour the Prime Ministers of India. "The prime minister of India has always played a predominant role in shaping the future of the country. It is different from other democracies. That will be reflected in the ethos of the museum," he said in a statement.
However, the idea has been strongly rejected by the Congress right from the start. Despite assurances from the Centre that the NMML would not be affected, the Congress has asked the government to reconsider the decision, and build a museum at another location. The BJP has hit back, calling the Congress parochial.
