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Earlier this week, the nomenclature of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) situated in the Teen Murti Complex was changed to Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library (PMML).
The move surprised many, since Teen Murti House was the official residence of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, for 16 years, and has always been associated with him.
In fact, it was named after Nehru almost six decades ago, after being turned into a memorial dedicated to him in 1964 by then President S Radhakrishnan.
We look at the history of the complex, and its journey from NMML to PMML.
The building
Built in 1929-30 as part of Edwin Lutyens’ imperial capital, Teen Murti House, then known as Flagstaff House, was the official residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the British armed forces in India.
In August 1948, it became the official residence of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who lived there for 16 years until his death on May 27, 1964. Soon after, the government decided that the Teen Murti House should be dedicated to him and house a museum and a library.
On Nehru’s 75th birth anniversary on November 14, 1964, President S Radhakrishnan dedicated the Teen Murti House to the nation and inaugurated the Nehru Memorial Museum. Two years later, the NMML Society was set up to manage the institution, and has remained in charge since then.
The society aims to foster academic research on modern and contemporary history.
Post-2014: new ideas, new legacies
In 2016, PM Modi had mooted the idea of setting up a museum dedicated to all Prime Ministers of India on the premises. The idea was met with fierce criticism and opposition from the Congress, with former PM Manmohan Singh even writing a letter to PM Modi, raising concerns over an “agenda” to “change the nature and character” of the NMML and the Teen Murti complex.
However, then Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma had sought to quell his doubts, saying that no part of the Nehru Memorial Museum will be touched during or after construction of the new museum, also adding that there should be no controversy over ownership of the land since it “belongs to the government”.
Even so, within a fortnight of conducting the bhoomi pujan ceremony for the project in October 2018, the government effected major changes to the 34-member NMML Society, appointing BJP leader and then Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, television anchor Arnab Goswami, head of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Ram Bahadur Rai, and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar to the society. They replaced economist Nitin Desai, bureaucrat B P Singh and professor Udayan Mishra. The resignation of Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Ashoka University vice-chancellor, who quit NMML in 2016 citing “political pressure”, was also officially accepted.
Just a few days prior to that, at the previous AGM of the NMML, chaired by then Home Minister Rajnath Singh, at least six of the 22 members present had voiced their objections to the museum, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, historian Nayanjot Lahiri, besides Nitin Desai and B P Singh.
Desai, who was a member of the NMML Executive Council, criticised the government’s plans to amend the memorandum of association that governs the NMML Society, pointing out that it amounts to “moving away from the original motivation” and the “long standing orientation” of the institution.
Incidentally, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, had submitted her resignation from NMML’s membership in 2014, just a week ahead of the swearing in of PM Narendra Modi.
The new museum comes up
The Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya was inaugurated by PM Modi on April 21, 2022. The Rs 271-crore museum creates awareness about all 14 prime ministers of the country with ample space for future leaders as well. The space recognises their contributions irrespective of ideology or tenure in office, according to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials in the Ministry of Culture say.
The erstwhile Nehru Museum building is now seamlessly integrated with the new museum building. The Nehru Museum is designated as Block I, and has a completely updated, technologically advanced display on the life and contribution of the first prime minister. A number of gifts received by him from all over the world, but not exhibited so far, have been put on display in the renovated Block I, they added.
Incidentally, the Sangrahalaya is now readying a gallery on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is likely to be inaugurated in a few months. The gallery dedicated to PM Modi’s term will be located on the ground floor of the museum, and the contents will be on similar lines as all other galleries, as per officials.
