Museum for all PMs at Teen Murti complex will not hurt Nehru’s legacy, says director
Shakti Sinha said that the idea was merely to ‘democratise’ the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
The director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi said on Monday that the plan to set up a museum for all prime ministers in the Teen Murti complex did not mean that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy would be “obliterated”. He was referring to a letter written by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Narendra Modi, urging the Centre to leave the Teen Murti complex “undisturbed”.
“I respect the former prime minister’s [Singh’s] views,” museum director Shakti Sinha told The Indian Express. “However, I would humbly like to say that the objections are a little misplaced. Even in the present set-up, less than 2% of the books, documents and other items in our repository are about Nehru. When we expand the repository to include other PMs, we will be adding to Nehru as well in the process. Nowhere are we obliterating Nehru, we will make it Nehru-plus.”
Sinha said the plan was merely to “democratise” the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, DNA reported. “We are trying to build awareness about all Indian prime ministers,” he said. “I feel that the contribution made by other prime ministers has been neglected in the past, but in no way is it [the planned museum] an attempt to undermine the contribution made by Nehru.”