Economist Nitin Desai, former bureaucrat BP Singh and professor Udayan Mishra have been removed by the government to bring in new faces.
The Centre has removed three members from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) society who opposed the BJP Government's decision to set up a museum for all prime ministers in the Teen Murti complex where NMML is located.
Economist Nitin Desai, former bureaucrat BP Singh and professor Udayan Mishra have been replaced by Ram Bahadur Rai, chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. Journalist Arnab Goswami has been appointed as a replacement for Pratap Bhanu Mehta who resigned from the society citing “political pressure.”
In a notification issued on October 29, the Union Ministry of Culture said the resignation of Pratap Bhanu Mehta had been accepted from the membership for the NMML Society.
In 2016, Mehta had quit citing “political pressure” and protested former bureaucrat Shakti Sinha’s candidature as the NMML director.
Desai, Singh and Mishra had been critical of the government’s approach towards NMML when it decided to introduce memorabilia of all prime ministers.
The foundation stone for a museum for prime ministers in the Teen Murti Estate premises was laid by Union ministers on October 15, despite objections raised by the Congress, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The government went ahead with its plan even as Singh last month wrote to his successor Narendra Modi, raising expressing concerns over the government's move to change the "nature and character" of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML).
Urging Modi to leave the Teen Murti Complex, which houses the NMML, "undisturbed", Singh said the present museum respected both history and heritage.
Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, who are members of the NMML society, along with historians had also opposed the move.
The new museum which will include memorabilia of prime ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri onwards, will come up on a plot of land within the Teen Murti Estate and is expected to cost Rs 270 crore.
(With PTI inputs)
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