Nehru Memorial Library director quits, BJP wants museum of governance
Mahesh Rangrajan was appointed as the director of New Delhi-based Nehru Memorial Museum and Library despite the EC writing to the Culture ministry on May 12, 2014 asking it to defer a proposal on permanent absorption of Rangarajan for the post till the election process was over.
Director of New Delhi-based Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Mahesh Rangrajan on Thursday resigned from his post, days after the ruling BJP's plans to recast it as a museum of governance showcasing contemporary India was revealed.
The Ministry of Culture had prepared for action to be taken against Rangrajan, a renowned political analyst and former professor at the Delhi University. India Today had accessed a series of correspondence between the Election Commission and the ministry in which the EC had redflagged Rangrajan's appointment.
On April 30 last year, after the model code of conduct ahead of Lok Sabha elections had come into force, the Ministry of Culture had written to the Election Commission proposing the permanent absorption of Rangarajan as Director, Nehru Memorial and Library. On May 12, the Election Commission wrote back directing the ministry to defer his appointment till the election process got over.
But that did not stop the then UPA government from pushing ahead with the appointment of Rangarajan, despite a clear rejection of this proposal by the EC. On May 14, two days before the election results were announced, the Appointments Committee of the UPA Cabinet approved the proposal for the permanent absorption of Rangarajan to the post of Director.
On May 19, three days after the UPA was routed by the BJP-led NDA at the hustings and it was clear that Narendra Modi would be the country's next Prime Minister, Nehru Memorial took out an office order approving the permanent appointment of Rangarajan.
Earlier this month, the present Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma had sought the opinion of the Election Commission on Rangarajan, which, India Today had learnt, the panel had responded to by holding Rangarajan's appointment as being in violation of guidelines.
Earlier this month the government decided to recast the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library as a museum of governance showcasing contemporary India, including PM Modi's campaign for smart cities and ISRO's unmanned flight to Mars.
On September 5, former West Bengal and Mahatma Gandhi's grand-son Gopalkrishna Gandhi, actor Girish Karnad, historian Romila Thapar and academic Ananya Vajpayi had issued a joint statement saying, "The Nehru Memorial was never meant to be anything other than a museum dedicated to India's first Prime Minister, his life and his times."