The Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library (PMML) society and executive council have been reconstituted with former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Nripendra Mishra, getting another five year term as the organisation’s chairperson. However, there have been several new entrants at the premier institution’s society — including former Union Minister Smriti Irani, former NITI Aayog Vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar, retired Army General Syed Ata Hasnain, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and Sanskar Bharati’s Vasudev Kamath. The key decision-making body of PMML — helmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its president, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as vice-president — has also been expanded to now have 34 members, instead of 29 earlier. While its term expired on January 13, 2025, the Ministry of Culture, in an order issued on the same day, notified the reconstitution of the body for a five-year term. "The central government hereby reconstitutes the society and the executive council of the Prime Ministers Museum & Library, New Delhi," says the order, adding, "the term of the members nominated to the society and the executive council of PMML shall be for a period of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier." Some of the key members who don’t find space on the new list include former Union Minister Anurag Thakur, University Grants Commission chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts President Ram Bahadur Rai, and journalist Rajat Sharma. Interestingly, the new entrants also include Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, educationist Chamu Krishna Shastry - who has been among contributors to the formulation of National Education Policy, archaeologist KK Mohammad, who was part of the team that excavated the site of the Babri Masjid in 1976. Fellow archaeologist BR Mani, who presently heads the National Museum, is also on the new team. Mani’s team had found remains of what seemed like a temple in 2003, while excavating the disputed Ayodhya site. Researcher Rizwan Kadri has also been retained in the PMML Society. Ahmedabad-based Kadri has recently been writing multiple letters to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on the return of a chunk of Nehru papers, as per the discussion at the last annual general meeting (AGM) of the PMML Society, were taken away at Sonia Gandhi’s behest in 2008. This is the first formal notification for the new society after the name of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) was changed to PMML in 2023. In 2016, Modi government had mooted the idea of setting up a museum dedicated to all Prime Ministers of India on the premises, which was the official residence of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. Despite opposition from the Congress, the Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya was built on the campus, and inaugurated in 2022.
