New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday stayed the eviction notice given to Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF) to vacate the Teen Murti Estate Complex, from where it was operating, and listed the matter for hearing on November 16.
The court sought response of the Centre on JNMF's plea seeking to set aside the estate officer's October 15 eviction notice. The JNMF has denied the claims that it was in illegal possession of the property.
Established in 1964, the fund has been located at Teen Murti — once the residence of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru — since 1967. Its offices are not part of the main building but occupy a set of barracks on its eastern side with a separate entry from Teen Murti Marg.
The notice had given rise to fears that the Nehru legacy was under threat, professor Zoya Hasan, trustee of the JNMF, said. "The work of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and the JNMF has always been closely connected, and so removing the fund from its present location will hamper its work, but I suppose one purpose of this whole exercise is to delink the two institutions."
Hasan added, “At this historical juncture when the public discourse is marked by a litany of complaints and indictments against Nehru, the eviction notice is part of a series of moves by the present government to diminish the significance of Jawaharlal Nehru and his consequential role in crafting a new republic.”
“There is a concerted attempt to question and dilute his extraordinary contribution to the making of modern India and to the establishment of India’s democracy. It fits into the right-wing project of rewriting India’s contemporary history. In diminishing Nehru’s contribution, we are diminishing ourselves and expose our narrowness,” she said.
Comments
0 comment