With the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) officially renamed as the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library Society (PMMLS), the Indian National Congress alleged on Wednesday, August 16th that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a single-point agenda of “denying”, “distorting”, “defaming” and “destroying” the legacy of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The INC, one of the major opposition parties in India, asserted that despite the “relentless assault”, the legacy of Nehru will live on for the world to see and he will continue to inspire generations to come. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), INC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “From today, an iconic institution gets a new name. The world renowned Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) becomes PMML—Prime Ministers’ Memorial Museum and Library (sic).”
“Mr. Modi possesses a huge bundle of fears, complexes and insecurities, especially when it comes to our first and longest serving Prime Minister. He has had a single point agenda of denying, distorting, defaming and destroying Nehru and the Nehruvian legacy (sic)”, Ramesh said.
“He (Modi) has erased N and put P instead. That P is really for pettiness and peeve”, the INC leader alleged.
Ramesh said that Modi can never take away Nehru’s gigantic contributions to the freedom movement and his “towering achievements in building the democratic, secular, scientific and liberal foundations of the Indian nation-state”, “all of which are now under assault by Mr. Modi and his drum beaters”, he added.
The NMML has officially been renamed as the PMMLS with effect from August 14th, A Surya Prakash, the vice chairman of the rechristened body’s executive council said in a post on X.
“Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) is now Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) Society w.e.f August 14, 2023- in tune with the democratisation and diversification of the remit of the society. Happy Independence Day! ”, the post read.
Surya tagged the prime minister, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and the Union Ministry of Culture in his post. It also carried a picture of the Teen Murti House, where the erstwhile NMML was located.
In mid-June, in a special meeting of the NMML Society, it was resolved to change its name to PMMLS.
The renaming had prompted sharp criticism from the INC, to which Nehru belonged. The Teen Murti Bhavan had served as the official residence of Nehru and was later turned into a museum.
