Hardeep Puri standing next to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday revisited the time when he served as a civil servant and worked for 11 Prime Ministers during his tenure. Mr Puri, a 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, started his journey as a bureaucrat in 1978 when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister.
Mr Puri, who now holds the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas portfolios, has also shared some throwback pictures along with this tweet. Through the post, the minister has narrated a short story on his work-life “before being invited to join the Council of Ministers in September 2017”.
In one of the images, we can see Mr Puri standing next to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The next one, which looks like a newspaper cutout, features all the Prime Ministers of India and their tenure, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru.
“Before being invited to join his Council of Ministers in September 2017 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is himself into a historic 2nd term, privileged to be a civil servant during the tenure of 11 Indian PMs. Witnessed many momentous events. Began with 1st non-Congress PM Morarji Desai in 1978,” his tweet read. Mr Puri, during his diplomatic career spanning 39 years, served as India's representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013.
Mr Puri's tweet came in the backdrop of PM Modi inaugurating the “Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya”, a museum dedicated to India's Prime Ministers, on April 14.
Sharing a few pictures from the Prime Ministers' museum, Mr Puri wrote, “PM Sangrahalaya is an iconic tribute to the stalwarts- first non-Congress PM to complete a full term Atal Bihari Vajpayee, farmer leader Chaudhary Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, PV Narasimha Rao, who opened up the economy, 1st Sikh PM Dr Manmohan Singh.”
In a follow-up tweet, Mr Puri spoke about his “MEA [Ministry of External Affairs] boss Inder Kumar Gujral, HD Deve Gowda, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and VP Singh.”
Mr Puri added, “It took PM Narendra Modi's bipartisan dedication to India's democratic institutions to immortalise the contribution of these great leaders for the current and coming generations.”
Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya is built at Delhi's Teen Murti Estate. The museum narrates the tale of India's march through the years, starting with the freedom struggle. The aim is to sensitize and motivate the upcoming generation about the leadership and vision of all Prime Ministers.