Know all about Nehru Memorial, the epicentre of a political storm
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, June 16
Housed in the historic Teen Murti complex, just south of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library has served as India’s premier research institution since 1964.
Designed by Robert Tor Russel and built in 1930, as part of Edwin Luytens’ imperial capital Delhi, Teen Murti campus was the official residence of the Commander-in-Chief at the time.
After the British left India, Teen Murti House became the official residence of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, who resided here till his demise on May 27, 1964. The government thereafter decided to dedicate the complex to JL Nehru and also resolved to build a museum and a library in his memory.
Accordingly, then President S Radhakrishnan, on the 75th birth anniversary of JL Nehru on November 14, 1964, dedicated NMML, housed in Teen Murti campus, to the nation. NMML was founded under the Ministry of Culture as an autonomous institution and was meant to advance research in modern and contemporary India.
Later on April 1, 1966, the government set up a Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society to manage NMML.
Records show that initially the Nehru Museum came up in the eastern wing of the Teen Murti House and library in the western wing. Gradually as the scope and contents of the Library expanded, a dedicated building was set up adjacent to Teen Murti House and was inaugurated by then President VV Giri in January 1974.
After BJP came to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 mooted the idea of a museum dedicated to all the Prime Ministers of India on Teen Murti premises.
The Executive Council of NMML in its 162nd meeting on November 25, 2016 approved the construction of the Museum and Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya was opened for the public on April 21, 2022.
At a special meeting of NMML Society chaired by its vice president and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 15, 2023, a proposal was adopted to rename the NMML Society as PMs’ Museum and Society to honour all Indian prime ministers from JL Nehru to Modi.
Rajnath Singh, accepting the renaming proposal moved by NMML Executive Council chairman Nripendra Misra, yesterday, said that in its new form, the institution exhibits the contributions of all prime ministers and their responses to various challenges faced by them.
“Describing Prime Ministers as an institution and comparing the journey of various prime ministers to the varied colours of a rainbow, Rajnath Singh emphasised that all the colours of a rainbow have to be proportionately represented in order to make it beautiful. Thus the resolution has given a new name, respect to all our previous prime ministers and is democratic in content,” the Ministry of Culture said in a statement today after the opposition Congress slammed the ruling BJP for attempting to erase history by dropping Nehru’s name from the institution, associated with his memory since 1964, the year of his demise.
