PMs’ Museum Renamed: Kharge Evokes Contribution of ‘Jawahar of Hind’; Nehru’s Section Unaltered, Says Nadda

The decision to rename the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) as the Prime Ministers Museum and Society, according to a report in the Indian Express, started a war of words between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday.

The move comes almost a year after the Prime Ministers’ Museum was inaugurated at the Teen Murti complex, which served as the official residence of India’s first PM. The IE report stated that the decision was taken at a special meeting of the NMML Society on Thursday, presided over by defence minister Rajnath Singh, who is the vice-president of the society.

Kharge tweeted: “Those who do not have any history, they have gone to erase the history of others. The ill-fated attempt to change the name of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library cannot belittle the personality of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India and fearless guardian of democracy. This only shows the low mentality and dictatorial attitude of BJP-RSS. The dwarf thinking of the Modi government cannot reduce the huge contribution of ‘Jawahar of Hind’ towards India!”

Quoting his tweet, Nadda responded on Twitter: “Classic example of political indigestion- the inability to accept a simple fact that there are leaders beyond one dynasty who have served and built our nation.”

“PM Sangrahalaya is an effort beyond politics and Congress lacks the vision to realise this. Congress’ approach to this issue is 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 wrote.

Nadda tweeted: “In PM Sangrahalaya, every PM has got respect. Section relating to Pandit Nehru hasn’t been altered. On the contrary, its prestige has been enhanced. For a party which ruled India for over 50 years, their pettiness is really tragic. It’s also the reason people are rejecting them.”

Earlier in the day, former Union minister and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari launched an indirect attack on the Centre, asking “those trying to erase Jawahar Lal Nehru’s contribution” to read ‘Discovery of India’ and ‘Glimpses of World History’. He added that legacies don’t get erased by renaming buildings.

Congress veteran Jairam Ramesh launched a scathing attack on one of the country’s top leader and called him “a small, small man overburdened by his insecurities, and is a self-styled Vishwaguru”.

The NMML Society has 29 members with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairman. Other key members of the society include Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, G Kishan Reddy and Anurag Thakur.