Teen Murti memorial: Gehlot says Modi attempting to "erase" Nehru's role

Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attempting to "erase" Jawaharlal Nehru's role as the opposition party slammed the proposed changes at the Teen Murti Bhavan complex, which houses the former prime minister's memorial.

Gehlot's comments come amid reports about the government's plans to build a museum for all former prime ministers of the country in the Teen Murti Bhavan complex. The Congress is vehemently opposed to the idea.

"It is very unfortunate that PM Modi is trying to erase former PM Nehru ji's role at Teen Murti Marg Memorial. The nation has never seen a prime minister before who acts so revengefully, just because most former PMs were not of Modi ji's ideology," Gehlot said in a tweet.

The NMML was established in the memory of India's first prime minister and the museum at the Teen Murti House has preserved some rooms as they were at the time of Nehru's death.

Last week, former prime minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Modi, urging him to leave the historic Teen Murti complex "undisturbed".

"Jawaharlal Nehru belongs not just to the Congress but to the entire nation," Singh said in his letter.

The decision to build a museum for all the former prime ministers was announced last month by NMML director Shakti Sinha.

"We will build a museum for all Prime Ministers in the 25 acre estate (Teen Murti Bhavan). This will be separate from the existing structure of the Nehru Memorial," Sinha had said.

The decision was taken at the 43rd annual meeting of the NMML, chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Citing a news report about the Central Information Commission's (CIC) refusal to share information about expenses incurred on the security of BJP president Amit Shah, Gehlot accused the Modi government of hiding information.

"Modi government has become a government functioning in secrecy. They do not believe in revealing or disclosing anything. Information is hidden, media is gagged, democracy is stifled every day under Modi govt," the Congress leader said in another tweet.

According to the report shared by Gehlot, the CIC refused to give out the information citing RTI Act exemption clauses of "personal information" and "safety".