According to a report, the museum, which bears the name of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, is being renamed as ‘Prime Ministers Museum & Society.’
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday described prime minister Narendra Modi as a ‘small small man overburdened by his insecurities,’ as he reacted to a report that stated that the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) is being renamed to ‘Prime Ministers Museum and Society.’
Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first PM whose name the NMML bears, has a ‘name and legacy’ as the architect of the Indian nation-state,’ noted Ramesh.
“Pettines & Vengeance, thy name is Modi. For over 59 years, NMML has been a global intellectual landmark and treasure hose 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,” the Congress’ General Secretary in-charge Communications, said in a tweet.
“A small, small man overburdened by his insecurities is the self-styled Vishwaguru,” the Rajya Sabha MP, who describes himself as an ‘Unapologetic Nehruvian’ added, referring to PM Modi.
Renaming of Nehru Memorial Museum & Library
According to the Indian Express report, the decision to rename the Nehru Memorial Museum was taken at a ‘special’ meeting of the NMML Society on Thursday; defence minister Rajnath Singh, who is the vice-president of the 29-member society, presided over the session.
The NMML society is headed by prime minister Modi, and has Union ministers Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur, Dharmendra Pradhan, G Kishan Reddy, Nirmala Sitharaman among its members.
Nehru Memorial Museum & Library
Founded as an autonomous institution, the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library is dedicated to the promotion of advanced research on ‘Modern and Contemporary India.’ It is housed inside the historic Teen Murti campus in the national capital and was inaugurated on November 14, 1964, by then-President, Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, on the Congress stalwart’s 75th birth anniversary.
The Teen Murti Bhavan, on the other hand, served as PM Nehru’s official residence from August 1948 till May 27, 1964, the day of his demise. In April 2022, however, it was repurposed and opened as the Prime Ministers Museum, dedicated to all prime ministers of the country.