Employees of the National Library have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take stringent action against those who smeared ink on the demy book that was presented to honour former President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2007 following inaction of the library authorities.
In a letter written to Mr Modi on 3 March, the employees association ~ Joint Platform of Action ~ complained that no action has been taken against the “omnious powers”. “We are very much optimistic this time that the honourable Prime Minister will take immediate and stringent action against the omnious powers who dares to attack patriotism and nationalism,” read the letter.
The book was displayed in the Lending Section of the library till 24 January. However, when the library opened on 27 January it was observed that the book was smeared by ink. This incident was reported byThe Statesman on 28 January. The Joint Platform of Action had complained about it to Union culture minister Prahlad Singh Patel in January.
Following which on 19 February, under secretary to Government of India Ashish Kumar wrote to the officer on special duty of National Library directing to look into the matter and take appropriate action in consultation with the director general of the library.
“However, till now the National Library authorities have not taken any action against those who committed that crime. We condemn such an act inside the library premises and demand immediate and stringent action against the accused,” said Mr Saibal Chakraborty, regional secretary of Joint Platform of Action. During the visit of the former President Kalam to National Library in 2007, this demy book was prepared in his honour by the library.
“His Excellency highly appreciated the art, skills and vision of the library to honour a President and advised to keep it on display so that it will always inspire the future generations of the library employees and will set a sense of high value in terms of art, skill, culture and vision of library employees infront of the entire world,” read the letter.