PM Modi inaugurates prime ministers' museum

The museum tells the story of India after Independence through the lives and contributions of its prime ministers, the PMO had said earlier

PM Modi on Thursday inaugurated the Museum of PMs, “Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya” and bought a ticket for the museum to open to the public. He said it was a matter of pride that most PMs came from humble backgrounds.

While inaugurating the museum, PM Modi said that he felt it was his good fortune to have opened the museum on Ambedkar Jayanti. “This museum is a living reflection of the shared heritage of each government,” Modi said.

Union Culture Minister G K Reddy, ministers of state for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi and Arjun Ram Meghwal, Chairperson of the executive council of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) Nripendra Mishra, vice-chairman Surya Prakash as well as family members of former Prime Ministers were present.

One of the key attractions will be a levitating national emblem, a kinetic flag made of a thousand lights, an immersive setup revisiting India’s Pokhran nuclear test, and a display that will allow visitors to fly over India’s iconic projects.

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Jawaharlal Nehru’s exhibit will have glimpses from his living room as well as bedroom, in addition to his memorable speeches. Lal Bahadur Shastri’s exhibits include segments on his ‘Jai, Jawan, Jai Kisan’ policy, the Tashkent Agreement, and his speeches on AIR.

Indira Gandhi’s segment has exhibits about the 1971 War, Emergency, Pokhran 1 and the insurgencies in Punjab and Assam. Morarji Desai’s exhibit showcases the formation of Janata Morcha, his initiatives during the Shah Commission, and the introduction of the Lokpal Bill as well as demonetisation.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee's segment will have a section dedicated to Operation Shakti, another on the bus to Lahore, and the Golden Quadrilateral. Manmohan Singh’s journey as PM will be charted out in exhibits on MGNREGA, Reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh and the India-UCS Nuclear Energy Treaty.

Rajiv Gandhi’s section will mention his achievements in telecommunications and computers, as well as the Bofors Controversy and the Punjab, Assam and Mizo Peace Accords. VP Singh’s exhibits will have exhibits on the Mandal Commission and the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits. H D Devegowda’s exhibit will display a segment on The Representation of the People (Amendment) Act,1996.

There will be 43 galleries in all, spread out across 15,619 square metres, and is built at a total cost of Rs 306 crore. The Teen Murti Bhawan has been designated as Block I, and the new building is called Block II. Block I is spread over 5,128 square metres and it will house 22 galleries in a 20,000 square feet exhibition space. Block II will cover an area of 10,491 square metres, and its exhibition space of 42,000 square feet will have 21 galleries.

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The museum, sources said, has employed technology-based interfaces and has 7.5 hours of immersive curated content.

“This includes latest technologies such as levitation, robotics holograms, virtual reality, augmented reality, multi-touch, multimedia, interactive kiosks, computerised kinetic sculptures, smartphone applications, interactive screens and experiential installations, where there is frequent rotation of display,” an official involved with the project said.

Visitors will be able to navigate inside the Sangrahalaya with an app-based route map. Through augmented reality, visitors can take selfies with their favourite prime minister, and a robotic display will also give them a handwritten note from one of India’s former premiers.

Saurav Bhaik, CEO and founder of Tagbin, the Gurgaon-based design agency that designed the museum, said that museum has a fine balance of immersive technology and well as historical documents. “Letters, documents, audio visual material, newspapers, speeches and personal objects find space with technological interfaces which makes it relevant for visitors of all generations. The museum also has an advanced audio guide which auto syncs with exhibits; it is multilingual features to ensure that the museum is not limited to any visitor due to language barrier,” Bhaik told DH.

Information from all PMs were collected from Prasar Bharti, Doordarshan, Film Division, Sansad TV, Ministry of Defence, Toshakhana of MEA, media reports as well as families of Prime Ministers. A spinning wheel which former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri got as "dowry", Chaudhary Charan Singh's diaries and P V Narasimha Rao's spectacles are among the articles that their families have offered for display at the Sangrahalaya, PTI reported.