For more than two years now, first as a research assistant on a project and later for my own PhD project, I have travelled to the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (earlier known as the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library) in New Delhi. The Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya—a newly constructed spherical structure just behind Nehru’s Prime Ministerial house—sits closer to the library.
However, despite its closeness and proximity, it had never interested me in grabbing a half-dollar (50 Rupees) ticket and visiting this archaic structure. Every day, for the last two years or so, I would hop onto the auto rickshaw every morning with friends and head straight to the library. So very unlike the curious researcher in me.
But, this last week, before leaving for Brisbane, Australia, I wanted to do something extraordinary and go see Pradhanmatri Sangrahalaya. And see for myself what I was missing out on for all these days. And feel what it was like to be inside Nehru’s house. And be fascinated by the extravagant gifts showered on Indian Prime Ministers as they went on foreign trips, which they tend to take many.
Topping the list with the greatest number of souvenirs is the present Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. For someone—a fakir who would travel with a jhola in his hand—it was surprising how Modi amassed gifts and souvenirs from all across the world. But let’s delve into this a little later.
Well, what was it like, you may ask? And I would say, if someone wants to understand how India progressed from 1947 to today, the Pradhanmatri Sangrahalaya in Delhi is a must-visit. But, if you really want to understand what happened to India since 1947, you might as well pick up a book and read, for there are many.
The Pradhanmatri Sangrahalya is a museum designed to tell an elite history—in elite voices—in terms of how India was seemingly built from scratch since Independence. Historians used to do this work. And now, curators, be it in art museums or in propaganda spaces, tend to outdo historians in some sense. The museum symbolises such a historical narration from a presentist viewpoint.
Prior to the establishment of the Pradhanmatri Sangrahalaya, this estate was called Teen Murthi Bhavan, where the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, lived for 16 years until his death.
So, in some sense, as one enters the Sangrahalya, one tends to notice the life Nehru led—including the display of the books he read, the letters he wrote, the place he slept in, the rooms he chaired his meetings in, and the things that were deemed Nehruvian. These are an astonishing set of things. And one is left wondering what it was like to be Nehru—and do things he did.
Then, as one exits from the Nehru’s house, they enter into the humongous alien spaceship-like structure called the Pradhanmatri Sangrahalaya. Here, there are sections dedicated to each Prime Minister, with some including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandra Shekar, V.P. Singh, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi, and others.
And, of all the Prime Ministers’ displays, the present Prime Minister Modi’s display looks the most fabulous. A hall full of technological advancements, cricketing victories, Chandrayana mission and all other things that happened—and continue to happen—in Modi’s time are displayed.
There is also a subtle propaganda at play in these displays. Curiously, in every other Prime Minister’s display, there are a few photographs added with the TV celebrities of the time. But a large chunk of poor labourers, peasants, caste and class-deprived people barely find any place in these halls. And communal tensions? And all-increasing inequality?
The limelight of the displays is distributed between two BJP leaders, Vajpayee and Modi, who would go on to become India’s Prime Ministers. Moreover, as one enters through the main hall of the Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya, a loud voice is played out on the telescreen with the Statue of Unity in the background, and a question in English is spelt out in bold: How different would India have been had Sardar Patel, Nehru’s deputy, become the first Prime Minister as the Congress wanted?
So, even when you enter the Pradhanmatri Sangrahalaya, be mindful of what information to take as facts for the civil services exam and as propaganda for the next general election.
But, despite such subtle propaganda at play, which governments often do even in democracies, there is a lot of history laid out in these walls. As one goes through the displays, one can only embrace a lot of what it was like to see the first telephones in India, how Chandra Shekhar carried on with his Bharat Yatra, how the 1965 war was won, and what it was like to be a political prisoner during the Emergency in 1975.
It is refreshing to see India as it has progressed through time, and at least through the eyes of the Prime Ministers who made it all possible.
And if you are in Delhi, and if you have time, it is not all that bad to hop onto your nearest metro towards Central Secretariat, and on an auto, then to Pradhanmatri Sangrahalaya. And please be mindful: It is closed on Mondays.