Akhilesh keeps father’s word, Shastri museum under way

The state government,which has allotted Rs 30 lakh for the project in the supplementary budget approved by the Assembly last month,plans to complete the development of the museum in the current financial year.

Museum Directorate of the state Culture Department,A K Pandey said he has visited Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial in New Delhi and also plans to visit Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya in Mumbai to draw inspiration for the upcoming museum.

“We have asked Anil Shastri to send the former PM’s belongings so that we could put them on display. Things like his clothes,spectacles,fountain pen,caps,watch,table,chair,cot and such,” Pandey said.

Pandey said that the museum,spread in less than half an acre area,would be centrally air-conditioned.

Anil said that Mulayam had announced in 2005-06 to develop his father’s parental house as a museum,name a bridge connecting Ram Nagar with Varanasi,and a ghat on Ganga river after him.

“I reminded the CM of his father’s promises and he assured me of fulfilling them. Senior government officials told me that Rs 30 lakh has been sanctioned for the museum,” said Anil,who is a holding trustee of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Memorial Trust which runs the museum developed inside the bungalow allotted to Shastri when he was the prime minister.

Anil said he will provide all articles that the state government has asked for. “I can provide his photographs,kurtas,dhoti,coats,khadaun,fountain pens and plates for the museum,” he said.

Anil said that he has proposed to develop the museum in two parts. While one portion would display Shastri’s belongings,the other would have the articles placed in the same order as they were when the former PM lived there.

In charge of Varanasi Regional Culture Centre,Ratnesh Verma said: “There is a kuchcha room built of bricks and cowdung in the middle of the double-storey house. That room will be kept as it is,” Verma said.

The state government in 2005-06 had taken possession of the house from Shastri’s relatives by paying a compensation of Rs 42 lakh and is used when tourists come to visit it.

The government has planned to acquire the adjacent house of Shastri’s another relative to set up a library and research centre.