The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the Centre for officially renaming the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) as the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) Society, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a single-point agenda of “denying and defaming” the Nehruvian legacy.
Despite the “relentless assault”, Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy will live on for the world to see and he will continue to inspire the generations to come, the party said.
In a post on X, Congress 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.”
He said: “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,” Ramesh said. “He (Modi) has erased N and put P instead. That P is really for pettiness and peeve.”
The Congress leader said the PM can never take away Nehru’s gigantic contributions in 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 Modi and his drum beaters.
Meanwhile, PMML Vice Chairman of Executive Council, A Surya Prakash said the new museum showcases the achievements and the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru to the nation, adding that those dubious about the same should visit it.
Speaking to ANI, Surya Prakash said, “Anyone visiting the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) can see how we have showcased Nehru, his temples of modern India, the Hirakud Dam, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, his idea of setting up institutes of technology, and Planning Commission in his 17-year tenure as PM at the Teen Murti Bhavan.”
“We have documented and showcased his phenomenal and exemplary body of work that went into nation-building. I would request anyone, who has any doubts about how we have showcased Nehru, to come and take a look at the museum today,” he added.