In his speech at the centenary celebration of the Madras Government Museum and the inauguration of the National Art Gallery, Madras, in November 1951, Jawaharlal Nehru emphasised the importance of museums as educational tools that bridge the past with the present. He said, “A museum which is really meant to interest and educate must be something which connects its objects with the things the visitors are used to seeing in their lives and in their environments. It should not be just a symbol of the distant, unconnected past.”
Nehru was being remarkably perceptive in saying this: even today, more than 75 years after Independence, most museums in India are dusty galleries of dead objects when they should have infused the past with life by connecting it to the present. This does not, of course, mean that the past can be remoulded to suit the requirements of the present: what is needed is the linking of the past and the present in a way that it sheds light on both. Under the present government at the Centre, there have been attempts to reshape history to fit into the narrative of “new India.” One part of these ongoing attempts is the plan to create a new national museum, replacing the existing National Museum of India in New Delhi.
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Central Vista Redevelopment Project
The Central Vista Redevelopment Project, which started in 2020, involves, among other things, a complete revamp of the buildings at the heart of Delhi, including the structures that house the National Museum, the National Archives of India, and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. It has been hinted that while the National Museum building might be revamped to accommodate government offices or demolished completely to free up space, the artefacts in the museum will be shifted to a new museum building.
Work in progress for the Central Vista Redevelopment Project at Rajpath in New Delhi on October 26, 2021. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
In 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the creation of Yuge Yugeen Bharat, the largest museum in the world, replacing the National Museum. According to government sources, the museum is to be located in the North and South Blocks, flanking Rashtrapati Bhawan. In a meeting held on September 2, 2023, it was declared that “a suitable space for storage and for the existing staff of National Museum needs to be identified for which a space consultant or a space assessment company should be appointed.”
“The treasures of the National Museum include the statue of the Dancing Girl from the Indus Valley, Buddhist relics, Tanjore paintings, exquisite Mughal miniatures, manuscripts, artillery, coins, and more, that, taken together, encapsulate the essence of our diverse and rich culture.”
This naturally created concerns about the artefacts, some of which are ancient and fragile. How would they be relocated? Till the time Yuge Yugeen Bharat comes up, where will the collection be stored? Have all the artefacts been photographed and catalogued online? And then, as the late art historian Kavita Singh asked in an article in 2021, how does the government plan to showcase the huge collection of the National Museum after the proposed relocation?
The National Museum’s history
The National Museum on Janpath, established in 1949, has around 2,00,000 works of art, covering over 5,000 years. Its grand history is recorded on the official website: “The blueprint for establishing the National Museum in Delhi was prepared by the Maurice Gwyer Committee in May 1946. An Exhibition of Indian Art, consisting of selected artefacts from various museums of India, was organized by the Royal Academy, London with the cooperation of the governments of India and Britain. The Exhibition went on display in the galleries of Burlington House, London during the winter months of 1947-48. It was decided to display the same collection in Delhi before the return of exhibits to their respective museums. An exhibition was organised in the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi in 1949, which was a great success. This event proved responsible for the creation of the National Museum.
On August 15, 1949, the National Museum, New Delhi, was inaugurated in the Rashtrapati Bhawan by Shri R.C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor-General of India. The foundation of the present building was laid by then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on May 12, 1955. The first phase of the National Museum building was formally inaugurated by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the Vice President of India, on December 18, 1960. The second phase of the building was completed in 1989.”
Harappan bronze displayed at the National Museum in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The treasures of the National Museum include the statue of the Dancing Girl from the Indus Valley, Buddhist relics, Tanjore paintings, exquisite Mughal miniatures, manuscripts, artillery, coins, and more, that, taken together, encapsulate the essence of our diverse and rich culture. When I arrived in Delhi in 2017 for my undergraduate studies in History at Delhi University, it was at the National Museum on Janpath where I first delved into the past. The sheer excitement of seeing the famed Dancing Girl from the Indus Valley and the exquisite Mughal miniature paintings for the first time was unparalleled. The building itself is a heritage structure. While the fate of the building still hangs in balance, the Ministry of Culture clarified recently that the collection will remain in the present premises of the National Museum till the new museum building is complete.
Dangers of relocation
While this announcement comes as a relief, a few concerns remain. What will the renovation of the National Museum building entail? While it surely needs to be modernised, a Grade 1 heritage building like this cannot be changed drastically. Have experts, archivists, art curators, historians and citizens been consulted on the renovation? Have proper time and thought been given to the project? The concerns are all the more valid given the aggressiveness with which the Central Vista project was implemented during the COVID-19 lockdown and later. The project has been marked throughout by a lack of clarity and transparency, and the absence of public consultation.
Highlights
- The fate of the National Museum and its priceless collection is still uncertain though the government recently clarified that collection will stay in the present premises for the time being.
- The Central Vista Redevelopment Project, of which the renovation of the National Museum is a part, has been marked throughout by a lack of clarity and transparency, and the absence of public consultation.
- In October 2023,a public petition was raised by Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative requesting the Ministry of Culture to halt the demolition of the National Museum building.
In October 2023,the Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar wrote to the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri, and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development, G. Kishan Reddy, cautioning them about the dangers associated with the proposed relocation of the artefacts. He also questioned the government on its plan to outsource the crucial job of identifying, documenting, packing, and transporting the invaluable treasures.
“In October 2023, a public petition was raised by Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative requesting the Ministry of Culture to halt the demolition of the National Museum building. ”
During the Winter Session of Parliament in December 2023, Congress MP Manish Tewari raised concerns about the Ministry of Culture’s plan to package, store and preserve the two lakh objects of the museum within the tight timeline set to vacate the existing building. In response, Reddy gave an assurance that standard protocols would be adhered to in consultation with experts for the packaging and storage of the artefacts. This marked the first official acknowledgement of the fact that the artefacts were slated for relocation to a temporary site. Other aspects of the relocation and renovation remained vague.
Karwaan’s petition
In October 2023,a public petition was raised by Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative requesting the Ministry of Culture to halt the demolition of the National Museum building. The petition was signed by 3,500+ citizens including historians, students activists, public intellectuals, even some Members of Parliament.
From a heritage walk conducted by Karwaan | Photo Credit: Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative
In the petition, we requested the Ministry of Culture to present a comprehensive plan for the facility that would house the collection in the interim period. We asked how academicians, researchers, students, and the public would access the National Museum’s collection in the transitional period. Continued access to these artefacts is vital for ongoing academic research, educational programmes, and cultural studies. To raise awareness about the importance of the National Museum and the threat of its demolition, Karwaan Heritage organised a series of walks with prominent historians such as Sudeshna Guha and Uma Chakravarti, who reiterated the importance of the heritage structure.
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We still fear for the fate of these priceless artefacts during the course of transportation, which has been halted for now, but will take place in the near future. If the artefacts are damaged or stolen, the loss will be irreparable. Besides this, another vital question remains. How will history be periodised in the new museum? Since all the treasures of the National Museum might not be on display, what measures are being taken to store and conserve the remaining artefacts? How accessible will the new museum be to the public, given the fact that security in Raisina Hill, which is the residence of India’s top leaders, including the President, is tight? India has the capacity to build a museum of international standards, but the government should ask for regular feedback from academicians and civil society on such an important issue.
A museum does not belong to the government or to corporate entities but to the people. As such, people should have a say in the preservation and presentation of the artefacts representing their heritage. A museum is a public institution, built for the people of a country and to serve the people. What we need urgently is to promote conversations and dialogues on heritage and history among the masses, as only people can save their heritage. It is incumbent upon us to advocate for the preservation and accessibility of heritage. And only through collective action and dialogue can we ensure its survival. If a building like the National Museum goes down, a significant part of our history will be erased, and we cannot allow that to happen.
Eshan Sharma is a writer, heritage activist, and TEDx Speaker. He is the founder of Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative.
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