Museum of PMs all set for Republic Day opening

After several missed deadlines, the Museum of all PMs at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library is finally set for a Republic Day release, that is, if Covid-19 restrictions ease in time.

The construction of the controversial Museum, which invited the ire of the Congress party for diluting the legacy of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, was scheduled to finish by March 2020.

However, since then, there have been several missed deadlines. The Covid-19 pandemic and a spate of torrential rains in 2021 halted construction at the site, said those involved in the process.

A member of the executive council, on condition of anonymity, said that while preparations for the inauguration are ongoing, there is a diktat to be tightlipped on the matter.

Another member, not wishing to be named, said that meetings have been held regularly.

Some of the highlights, an official told DH, was a kinetic roof of lights at the entrance which forms a pattern of a waving Tricolour.

There will be projection mapping and the highlight of the Museum is multiple interactive digital installations which will showcase the history of the 15 prime ministers of India. “This includes the landmarks of their time in office and their personal history,” the official said.

An area of 20,000 sq ft has been developed with advanced technology, the official said, which has not been seen before in India. The Museum is built at a cost of Rs 271 crore.

A souvenir shop will also be part of the Museum and bids for it were floated in November 2021.

Technology from all over the world has been brought in to build the Museum, and vendors, artists, designers were part of a committee headed by IIT Bombay that saw through the entire project.

Other design ideas include a replica of a control room from the second Pokhran test, an LED curtain of one of the PMs, and a console from where visitors can take handwritten notes from their favourite prime minister. It is not certain which of these three ideas made it to the final product.

The NMML compound has the Teen Murti Bhavan, home to Nehru, as well as the NMML building. The Museum has come up in a new building in the compound, but officials said that they were wary of not building the new building bigger than the Teen Murti Bhawan, to avoid controversy.

The NMML had initially called for bids in March 2019, shortlisting 13 firms and later zeroing on seven. But as some of the design proposals were not up to the mark, another round of bids was initiated in August 2019. In September 2019, eight firms were selected, out of which six were shortlisted.

The National Institute of Design was then roped in to help with the design. And the Indian Institute of Bombay was called in to help, too. After these rounds, a Gurgaon-based design firm Tagbin was given the job.

Tagbin has earlier experience of working on renovating spaces in protected monuments like the RedFort and Victoria Memorial.

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