Amid row over the renaming of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) to Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday that the first prime minister of India is known for his work and just not just his name.
“Nehru Ji ki pehchaan unke karam hai, unka naam nahi, (Nehru’s identity is through his work, not just name)” Rahul Gandhi said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
The name change of the musuem came into force on Tuesday. The resolution to drop the Congress leader’s name for the renaming was passed in a special meeting of the NMML Society on June 15, which was presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is the vice-president of the society.
Following the name change on Tuesday, Congress slammed the move and hit out at the Modi government calling it “petty” politics and an attempt to dilute the legacy of Nehru.
“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. He has erased N and put P instead. That P is really for pettiness and peeve,” Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh, said.
“But he 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 Mr. Modi and his drumbeaters.
Despite the relentless assault, Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy will live on for the world to see and he will continue to inspire generations to come,” he added.
Hitting back, former Union minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “There is a basic difference between the thinking of the Congress and PM Narendra Modi. They [Congress] think [of] only Nehru-ji and family matters. Modi-ji gave a respectful position to all Indian PMs at the museum.”