The NDA government kick started its year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru - the first Prime Minister of India - with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressing a select crowd of academicians and historians at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi. Nobody from Nehru-Gandhi family attended the function, even though Ravindra Singh, secretary, culture ministry told the Indian Express that invites did go out to the family. The sole representative from the Congress party was its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. The programmed arranged by NMML, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, also had a collage of the first Union Cabinet of India with detailed profiles of leaders like Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Bhartiya Jan Singh, which later went on to become the present Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Culture minister Mahesh Sharma said, "Nehru's legacy is not owned by any one family. We celebrated his 125th birth anniversary as he was the first PM of India." Rajnath Singh said though he did not agree with Nehru's policy on Jammu and Kashmir as well as China, his foreign policy vis-a-vis the western countries were commendable. "The RSS was banned in 1947 but Nehru invited the Sangh leaders for food programmes and even for the Republic Day parade in 1963. He was inclusive, " said Singh who inaugurated the NMML function in absence of PM Narendra Modi, who is the chairman of the autonomous body. "In fact the idea to celebrate the anniversary was PM Modi's only," he said. The NDA government kick started its year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru - the first Prime Minister of India - with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressing a select crowd of academicians and historians at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi. Nobody from Nehru-Gandhi family attended the function, even though Ravindra Singh, secretary, culture ministry told the Indian Express that invites did go out to the family. The sole representative from the Congress party was its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. The programmed arranged by NMML, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture also had a collage of the first Union Cabinet of India with detailed profiles of leaders like Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Bhartiya Jan Singh, which later went on to become the present Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Culture minister Mahesh Sharma said, "Nehru's legacy is not owned by any one family. We celebrated his 125th birth anniversary as he was the first PM of India." Rajnath Singh said though he did not agree with Nehru's policy on Jammu and Kashmir as well as China, his foreign policy vis-a-vis the western countries were commendable. "The RSS was banned in 1947 but Nehru invited the Sangh leaders for food programmes and even for the Republic Day parade in 1963. He was inclusive, " said Singh who inaugurated the NMML function in absence of PM Narendra Modi, who is the chairman of the autonomous body. "In fact the idea to celebrate the anniversary was PM Modi's only," he said.
