PM Museum row: Sanjay Raut slams Centre; says no need to change name

A decision was taken on Thursday to rename the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library as the Prime Ministers Museum and Society.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led government saying there was no need to change the name of New Delhi-based Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML).

The remarks by Raut came after a decision was taken at a special meeting of the NMML Society on Thursday to rename the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library as the Prime Ministers Museum and Society. The meeting was presided over by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is the vice-president of the Society.

"I agree that the contribution of other Prime Ministers should be shown in the museum. All the former Prime Ministers including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, have worked for the country," Raut, a member of the Rajya Sabha, told reporters here.

"There is no need to change the name of the museum. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehu was the country's first Prime Minister. His contribution has been immense. A section can be made in the museum where contributions of other Prime Ministers can be displayed," he said. Raut also took a jibe at the BJP saying that they want to erase history and hence all such things were taking place in the nation.

The Congress on Friday had hit out at the Centre over the issue. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in a Tweet had said: "Pettiness and Vengeance, thy name is Modi. For over 59 years the NMML has been a global intellectual landmark and treasure house of books and archives. It will henceforth be called Prime Ministers Museum and Society."

The NMML Society has PM Narendra Modi as its chairman, and Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dharmendra Pradhan, G. Kishan Reddy, Anurag Thakur, among its 29 members.The museum was inaugurated at the Teen Murti complex in the national capital last year in April, which served as the official residence of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru from 1948 till his death in 1964.