Nehru Museum Rejig: Arnab Goswami, S Jaishankar in; MJ Akbar Stays

Former union minister MJ Akbar, accused of sexual harassment, remains the vice-chairman of its executive council.

File image of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

(Photo Courtesy: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)

The Narendra Modi-led government in the Centre has removed three members from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) society, while one other member’s resignation was accepted.

Ministry of Culture order notifying reconstitution of the Nehru Museum Memorial & Library Society. (Photo: The Quint)

Speaking to The Quint, economist Nitin Desai, who has been ousted from the NMML society said,

“It is within their right to induct whoever they wish, and they have done that, it’s okay. A lot depends on how the NMML society now functions, let’s see. I hope NMML retains its standing as an academic institution which is respected by scholars, students and historians.”

Nitin Desai, Economist & International Civil Servant

The members who have been removed are economist Nitin Desai, professor Udayan Mishra and former bureaucrat BP Singh. Bhanu Pratap Mehta, had submitted his resignation in 2016, citing ‘political pressure’, and protesting against the appointment of former Bureaucrat Shakti Sinha’s as NMML’s director.

This government notification comes days after the Centre laid the foundation stone for a museum for all Prime Ministers in the Teen Murti estate on 15 October. This despite former PM Manmohan Singh’s reservations, strongly worded in a letter written to PM Modi on 24 August. Singh had expressed concern over the government changing the ‘nature and character’ of the complex and said it should remain ‘undisturbed’.

The NMML society is responsible for taking decisions pertaining to the memorial.

The four who have been appointed as members are Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami, former foreign secretary S Jaishankar, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Ram Bahadur Rai.

While commenting on the appointment of the new members, NMML head Shakti Sinha told News18, "There have been dissenters to the idea of a museum for all PMs. The government wanted people who could contribute towards the new museum. They wanted to have people with expertise in understanding the contemporary Indian politics, either as participants in Indian politics or as writers and observers. That is why the four have been appointed."

MJ Akbar Remains the Vice-Chairman

The NMML Society meets once a year and the head of the NMML reports to the Executive Council constituted by the society. Former Union minister MJ Akbar, who has been accused of sexual harassment by more than a dozen women journalists in the #MeToo storm, remains the vice chairman of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library executive council.

Commenting on the removal of the three members, Congress leader and NMML member Jairam Ramesh said, “The people who have been replaced were men of integrity and scholarship,” Economic Times reported.