NEW DELHI: Paying tributes to the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his 133 rd birth anniversary, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre has made Teen Murti Bhavan out of bounds for the party. Teen Murti Bhavan, the official residence of Jawaharlal Nehru for 16 years, has now been converted into a museum of all former Prime Ministers of India.
Kharge was speaking at an event titled ‘Nehru in 21st Century’ at Jawahar Bhawan in the capital. “The party used to hold Nehru memorial talks every year on his birth anniversary in Teen Murti Bhavan, which was attended by eminent historians. Now, the current dispensation does not even allow space to talk about Nehru,” he said.
Kharge said that though Nehru guided the country to become a modern nation and set up the Planning Commission to bring about a welfare state, the BJP failed to acknowledge the contributions of the first PM of the country.
“The BJP’s constant refrain is “What did the Congress do in the last 70 years? Can’t they see the progress the country made in economy, literacy, agriculture and other spheres?” he asked. Taking a dig at the BJP, he said that “the planning commission is now being changed into Niti Ayog, which has no niti.”
The BJP’s policy is to divide and rule, he alleged. “But we are trying to unite the country. Rahul Gandhi is walking leading ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ to unite the country,” he said.