The recent renaming of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) as Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library is in accordance with the practice adopted by NDA government and the ruling BJP’s policy of erasing history that they do not like and specifically erasing from history names that they do not approve of.
As expected, a war of words has erupted between the Congress and the BJP. The country’s outstanding freedom fighter and first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has always been demeaned and demonised by the ruling establishment and so the change of name is no surprise.
It is claimed that the name change represented the ‘democratisation’ of the institution and the representation of PMs, presumably on the nation’s stage and in its memory.
The question of democracy in the case of PMs does not rise and by common understanding it is the equal rights of all citizens.
As a mark of respect for the country’s first PM of independent India, the NDA government should have deemed it fit to keep his official residence name where he spent the last years of his life.
The legacy of Nehru who played a crucial role in shaping the Indian Independence movement and laid the foundation for democratic and secular nation can never be overshadowed or wished away.
