Congress believed Nehru Museum only for showcasing Nehru or his family: Mahesh Sharma
The Minister of State (independent charge) for Culture and Tourism discusses achievements and controversies with Ashutosh Bhardwaj.
Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State of Culture & Tourism. Express photo by Renuka Puri/File.
Looking back, what would you consider achievements in your tenure?
The Prime Minister has a dream to make the rich Indian heritage our strength and showcase it in India and abroad. When we formed the government, many of the 42 institutions under the culture ministry were in poor condition. We have transformed many of them, we did so without any thought of revenge. We introduced e-tickets in all 116 monuments that require tickets. We declared 35 of them Aadarsh monuments, we revamped the IGNCA board and brought a highly qualified journalist and writer, Ram Bahadur Rai [as its chairperson]. So far, persons with political backgrounds had been appointed at IGNCA such as P V Narasimha Rao, Sonia Gandhi. We have given a purely literary character [to the institution]. All 21 persons who now comprise the board are into arts and culture. We have declassified and digitalised the Netaji files. We are now collecting data of all writers and artists across the country and creating a portal for them.
Several institutions are still headless.
A couple of institutions remain, but the next-in-command or administrators appointed by the ministry are overseeing their work. Selection is going on. It takes time to find a suitable person for these posts. The Asiatic Society is a 200-year-old institution. It was marred by anarchy, politics. We got this as a legacy.
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You took over Lalit Kala Akademi a year ago, introduced an administrator, but look at recent incidents [the administrator is facing a police complaint by a woman staff].
This is a violation of protocol. If she had any complaint against anyone, she should have first brought it to the notice of the culture secretary, the minister. But before that she filed the police complaint. If we had not taken any action, then she would have had the right to take that complaint anywhere. We have probed the complaint. It looks like foul play somewhere, we are investigating it. If an employee raises an issue, the institution does not get defamed.
LKA’s secretary Sudhakar Sharma has several complaints against him. He had been dismissed twice by former chairpersons, but you reinstated him.
He was dismissed. We got it probed, and then we reinstated him. If he is guilty, let him be punished. We only followed the guidelines. People went to court against him but they lost. Who headed the institution earlier? They were those who had said Narendra Modi should not be made PM. When he became PM, they created a nuisance.
What challenges have you faced?
We got a system that was in ruins. It was rusted, sluggishness prevailed all over. It has taken us time to bring things on track. We told them that it’s a new government. It has a different method of work — transparent and honest.
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What are your failures? There have been several controversies, like award wapsi. Could you have handled those better?
To some extent, I accept it, yes. It [Sahitya Akademi] is an autonomous body. Its head was asked what action you had taken [after the murder of award-winning writer M M Kalburgi]. They decided to hold a meeting [of the akademi’s board] after 23 days. They gave them [protesting writers] an opportunity to criticise the institution. If I were the head of the akademi, I would have made my stand clear within the next 24 hours. They [writers] considered themselves highly cultured. Writers used such mean words for me. I did not react. I was hurt. I am a doctor, not a writer.
You forced the director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library to resign. And it’s still headless.
We did not force anyone. On May 14, 2014, two days before the government got a mandate on May 16, the then prime minister, culture minister and culture secretary together signed an order, making Mahesh Rangarajan its director until his retirement. This when the EC had issued written orders prohibiting new appointment until May 16. And they knew that the result was on May 16. Doing this on May 14 indicates their bad intent. Since there was an EC order, it was also illegal. And then, May 14 was a gazetted holiday on account of Buddha Purnima. We brought it to his [Rangarajan’s] notice, he realised there was some mistake somewhere. He immediately resigned. Still, the Congress said the NMML was being saffornised. We made Congress read the NMML constitution that said it should be used to showcase the life of Nehruji and those who had contributed to the freedom struggle or building modern India. Thousands of people have contributed to the making of modern India. But the Congress believed that it’s only for showcasing Nehru or his family. We have democratised the NMML. Within a week, the director’s name will be released.
Tourism in India receives bad publicity due to poor treatment to foreigners. What are you doing to check the trend?
We have ensured safety, connectivity and hospitality. We launched a helpline, 1363, for tourists in 12 international languages including Japanese and Russian… This is the first such helpline in the world. We have also advised tourists that as you take an auto or a taxi, click a picture of its number plate and send it to any of your friends. The driver now knows his identity has been shared with others…. We have introduced e-visa for tourists on arrival; 8.6 lakh people have used this facility as 150 countries have been given e-visa on arrival. Tourism growth is 4.6 per cent in the world, we have recorded 9.6 per cent this year. Last year, Rs 1.23 lakh crore foreign exchange came through tourism, this year we recorded Rs 1.35 lakh crore. We have improved our ranking on the competitive world tourism index from 65 to 52. We are also introducing a Regional Connectivity Scheme for enhancing connectivity between tier-2 and tier-3 cities. For these sectors, we have fixed the ticket of Rs 2,500 for a flying hour. It will ensure that 30 crore middle-class citizens are able to fly.
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