The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) Society, an autonomous body under the Government of India, announced on Friday that the institution would be renamed as the ‘Prime Ministers Museum and Library Society’, setting off a political controversy and a war of words between the Congress and the BJP.
As soon as the decision was announced, Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge accused the BJP of trying to wipe out “the history of others as it had no history of its own” while his counterpart in the BJP, J.P. Nadda, retaliated by saying that the Congress was suffering from “political indigestion, the inability to accept a simple fact that there are leaders from beyond one dynasty who have served and built our nation”.
The decision to rename the institution, removing late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s name, was taken at a special meeting of the NMML Society on Thursday, presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the vice-president of the Society, a statement from the Ministry of Culture said on Friday.
The statement said that the decision was taken as the NMML Executive Council felt that the name should reflect the present activities of the institution which now also “include a ‘Sangrahalaya’ (Museum) depicting the collective journey of democracy in Independent India and highlighting the contribution of each Prime Minister in nation-building”. The meeting saw an acknowledgement of contributions of all Prime Ministers, past and present, and said that to reflect the mission of the Society, to preserve the ideas and legacy of India’s democratic journey, it was felt that renaming it would reflect this purpose.
The political war of words over renaming NMML comes as the BJP continues its attacks on what it terms “dynastic politics” while the Congress and other Opposition parties accuse the BJP of nepotism of its own.
Posting on microblogging site Twitter, Mr. Kharge said that “such efforts cannot reduce the role he [Nehru] played as the architect of modern India” and the fearless guardian of democracy. “This only shows the low mentality and dictatorial attitude of BJP-RSS,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh in a direct jibe at Prime Minister Modi said, “Pettiness & Vengeance, thy name is Modi.” He tweeted, “For over 59 years Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) has been a global intellectual landmark 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.”
Mr. Nadda too, posted a series of tweets, stating that the Congress’ criticism of the move was “ironical considering their party’s only contribution is to erase the legacies of all previous PMs to ensure that only the legacy of one family survives”. He added that all Prime Ministers “got respect” at the Museum of Prime Ministers, and that the section dedicated to India’s first PM Nehru had not been altered.
BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha Neeraj Shekhar, whose father late Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar is also featured in the Museum of Prime Ministers, decried what he termed as the “horrible attitude” of the Congress. He tweeted that his father “always worked for national interest” but that the Congress cannot see beyond one dynasty.
