File Photo: Syama Prasad Mookherjee
Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma today said the government is working on a proposal to conserve the house of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee at Kolkata and convert it into a museum.
"We are trying to conserve Syama Prasad Mookherjee house at Kolkata... We will conserve and protect that house and we will make it into a museum. He has worked a lot for the country," Mr Sharma said today.
"It is a proposal at this stage, but we have not decided how to go ahead on the issue," he added.
Freedom fighter Mookerjee founded Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951 at Delhi and became its first president.
Mr Sharma's statement comes in the backdrop of the government proposing to undertake a major overhaul of 39 institutions under the Culture Ministry including the Gandhi Smriti and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library to introduce modern Indian component.
Pointing that there was no proposal to change the name of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, the Minister said that the kind of research that should have happened did not take place there.
"We are not going to change the name of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. The kind of research that should have happened there is not happening," he said.
Meanwhile, Culture Ministry sources claimed that the ministry is also contemplating to establish memorials for about five iconic leaders including Subhash Chandra Bose, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh.
The sources said that that memorials are likely to be set up in Delhi.