Centre Renames Nehru Memorial Museum, Congress Slams "Pettiness"

The Centre recently decided to rename Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) as Prime Ministers' Museum and Society.

Following this, the Congress on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Centre's decision to rename Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

Slamming the Centre, senior leader and Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Pettiness & Vengeance, thy name is Modi. For over 59 years Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) has been a global intellectual lamdmark and treasure house of books & archives. It will henceforth be called Prime Ministers Museum & Society. What won't Mr. Modi do to distort, disparage and destroy the name & legacy of the architect of the Indian nation-state. A small, small man overburdened by his insecurities is the self-styled Vishwaguru."

This came after a special meeting of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society, resolved to change its name to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society. The Special Meeting was presided by Defence minister Rajnath Singh who is also the Vice-President of the Society.

Speaking to ANI, Vice Chairman, Executive Council, NMMLA, Surya Prakash said, "The passage of the resolution by the General Body of this Society is not a small step. It is rather a very big step to reiterate our commitment to democracy and to acknowledge our national political leadership."

"Hon' ble Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, Vice-President of the Society in his address welcomed the proposal for change in name, since in its new form the institution exhibits the contributions of all prime ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi and their responses to various challenges faced by them. Describing Prime Minister as an institution and comparing the journey of various prime ministers to the varied colours of a rainbow, Shri Rajnath Singh emphasized that all the colours of a rainbow have to be proportionately represented in order to make it beautiful. Thus the resolution has given a new name, respect to all our previous prime ministers and is democratic in content," the official release has stated.

In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed the idea of setting up a museum dedicated to all the prime ministers of India at the Teen Murti premises.

This project was approved by Executive Council, NMML in its 162nd meeting held on 25 November 2016. On April 21 last year, The Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya was opened to the public.

Interestingly, during the inauguration, despite having received an invitation from the government, no member of the Nehru-Gandhi family was present for the function. Three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi have served as Indian Prime Ministers in the past.

The museum, which has seen a huge footfall, is a seamless blend that begins at the renovated and refurbished Nehru Museum building, now completely updated with technologically advanced displays on the life and contribution of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Housed in a new building the museum then goes on to tell the story of how our Prime Ministers navigated the nation through various challenges and ensured the all-round progress of the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)