“Would request anyone, who has any doubts…”: PMML vice chairman amid renaming row

New Delhi [India]: Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) Vice Chairman of Executive Council, A Surya Prakash on Wednesday said the new museum showcases the achievements and the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru to the nation, adding that those dubious about the same should visit it.

Speaking to media on Wednesday, A Surya Prakash said, “Anyone visiting the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) can see how we have showcased Nehru, his temples of modern India, the Hirakud Dam, Nagarajuna Sagar Dam, his idea of setting up institutes of technology, and Planning Commission in his 17-year tenure as PM at the Teen Murti Bhavan.”

“We have documented and showcased his phenomenal and exemplary body of work that went into nation-building. I would request anyone, who has any doubts about how we have showcased Nehru, to come and take a look at the museum today,” he added.

Earlier, on Wednesday, hitting out at the Centre over the official renaming of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in the national capital, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi can never take away the gigantic contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru in the country’s freedom struggle.

The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) has officially been renamed as the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) Society with effect from Monday by the Centre.

Taking to his official handle on X, formerly Twitter, Ramesh posted on Wednesday, “From today, an iconic institution gets a new name. The world-renowned Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) becomes PMML—Prime Ministers’ Memorial Museum and Library. Mr Modi possesses a huge bundle of fears, complexes and insecurities, especially when it comes to our first and longest-serving Prime Minister. He has had a single-point agenda of denying, distorting, defaming and destroying Nehru and the Nehruvian legacy.”

In mid-June, during a special meeting of the NMML Society, it was resolved to change its name to PMML Society.

The Union Culture Ministry said that it had decided to change the name of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society to Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library Society.

The decision was taken at a special meeting of the Memorial Museum and Library Society which was presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is the Vice-President of the Society.

This project was approved by Executive Council, NMML in its 162nd meeting held in November 2016. The Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya was opened to the public on April 21 last year.