Institutions must proactively engage, change with time: Nehru Memorial director

Prime Ministerial residence post-independence, Nehru Memorial Museum Library (NMML) was converted into a museum. It also houses a library besides offering fellowship. NMML is also building a separate museum for the former prime ministers which has run into trouble. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even shot off a letter saying that NMML should solely be dedicated to the legacy of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. WION spoke to Shakti Sinha, director of NMML.

WION: What is the idea behind a museum dedicated to other Prime Ministers?

Shakti Sinha: Prime Ministers have played a very important role in India’s democratic story. The idea was to put all that in one place which has taken place in the last 70 years. This will allow people to come and study various aspects of different prime ministers and their contribution. It will also show the way the prime minister’s office has evolved. It will be a one-stop place for Indian citizens to know about the prime ministers.

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WION:Do you think that contributions made by non-Nehru and Gandhi family prime ministers have been ignored?

Shakti Sinha: The city has Nehru and Indira Gandhi memorials but one wants to know something about Lal Bahadur Shastri as the relevant material is not available. Today you do not have a dedicated place to learn about Prime ministers like Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Narasimha Rao. How many people know about Deve Gowda? Public reference of Shastri is limited to the war and Tashkent. There is no knowledge of his contribution made in the public domain. Even India’s first non-Congress Prime Minister Morarji Desai is completely forgotten.

WION:Manmohan Singh has a written a letter that the primary focus of the institution should remain on Nehru. Your comments?

Shakti Sinha: I have got great regards for Manmohan Singh but the fact of the matter is that in the museum there is nothing about Jawaharlal Nehru as the PM. Nothing. Only two photographs post-independence. Otherwise, it is a very fine museum on the Indian freedom struggle. It covers different aspects and phases of the freedom struggle beautifully. Even the library is diverse in its nature. It has private papers of 400 individuals including Rajaji and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. We also have papers from Congress, Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League. The library and museum are not predominantly about Nehru in any case. If someone is saying that today this museum and library is only about Nehru then they are misplaced.

WION:Where are you making this separate museum?

Shakti Sinha: We are going through the process of a design competition. There is a place behind the existing structure. Rest of the place is full of trees and we would not like to bring them down.

WION:Was this institution able to evolve after its inception?

Shakti Sinha: Yes, it did. This institution is very well known internationally. Our biggest strength is our documentation. For scholars of the world, if they are writing on contemporary India then, NMML is the place. The library has grown in the last three years. Museum has not changed. We are upgrading it. We are bringing more of Nehru in the museum now. We bringing aspects of Nehru which were absent earlier.

WION:Was this institution closed to other ideologies?

Shakti Sinha: The management of ideology can only happen by selecting exhibitions are granting fellowship. There is nothing you can do in the museum. I know people will accuse me of taking sides but I have tried my best to get people from all sides.

WION:Is this a reflection of heated ideological war which has become part of our political discourse?

Shakti Sinha: I would think so. This is the reason why many people are attacking us without knowing as to what we have done and we have been doing. We are actually bringing back Nehru into the museum.

WION:You are being accused of diluting Nehru’s legacy?

Shakti Sinha: I feel sad about it because people have not bothered to find what work we have done.

WION:Will the basic nature of the institution remain unchanged or will it change with time?

Shakti Sinha: No living institution remain unchanged. Institutions must take up new challenges and must not react but proactively engage and change with time. Academic platforms like NMML must be part of the change.