A National Museum of Freedom Movement
Posted : December 28, 2009 at 7:15 am [IST]
In the lead article ‘Another Tryst with Destiny’ in Times of India today, Arvind Panagariya, who is a professor of economics at Columbia University, US has suggested something that I liked very much.
“The post-Nehru leadership has utterly failed to give due recognition to the heroes of the independence movement, cannot escape the responsibility. The most visible manifestation of this failure is the absence of a single museum dedicated to the freedom movement and its many heroes. Unlike the United States where children from around the nation can come to Washington DC to visit the museum of American history and grand monuments dedicated to the memory of such leaders as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, no such museums and monuments exist in New Delhi.”
I personally opine that the suggestion of a real grand museum of the nation’s freedom movement must get the sincere attention of the government without any reservation or political bias-saffron or red.
Some young leaders must make it a mission to give the nation the museum. Navin Jindal of Congress or someone like him may be one who can do that. But perhaps the intellectuals in influencing position must press for it and help the project come up on a grand enough scale in the capital or NCR to attract the local young generation as well well as the tourists.
The museums of the national freedom movement may also come up in or around metros or capitals of the states. It must be designed and built to emerge as the most prominent landmark of the city. I have Akshardham temple built near Noida in mind.
In the backyard, a large enough garden-cum-entertainment centre can have a physical map of India on the ground showing different states and its great places of interest such as Taj Mahal, Nalanda, Ellora, Konark in miniature sizes to make the children understand the great heritage of the country at one place. Naturally the design will vary with the person who conceptualizes that.
- Indra
Category: Employment/Education |
Leave a Comment