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Senior Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday took a dig at the Centre while highlighting the digital repository of Jawaharlal Nehru's writings on the occasion of the former Prime Minister's birth anniversary, describing the archive as a "kavach" (shield) that would "preserve, protect, promote and propagate" Nehru's legacy against those seeking to defame him.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Ramesh said the digital repository, available at nehruarchive.in, contains 100 volumes of the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, covering the period from 1903 to 1964. He said the archive had received well over 1 million unique visitors and more than 4 million page views over the past year. The collection spans approximately 77,000 pages and includes over 34,000 text documents and more than 3,000 images. Ramesh said the next phase of the initiative, titled nehruarchive@2, would expand beyond the Selected Works and incorporate a wider range of material related to Nehru from sources in India and abroad. The expanded repository is expected to include letters, photographs, documents, books, films, audio recordings and cartoon sketches from Nehru's lifetime, making a broader collection of historical material available to researchers and the public. In a barb at the Centre without naming anyone, Ramesh said the "Distorians," led by the "supposed MA in Entire Political Science himself," would continue to defame and denigrate Nehru. "The Distorians led by the supposed MA in Entire Political Science himself will do what they have been doing to defame and denigrate Nehru. But this digital archive will be a kavach that will preserve, protect, promote and propagate his monumental legacy," he said. He described the material as essential to understanding 20th-century India "through the eyes of someone who so very profoundly shaped it." The platform is smartphone-friendly and easy to search, download (free) and translate. Ramesh said it has drawn interest from the general public, students, scholars, historians, journalists, admirers, sceptics and critics. "But this is only the beginning. nehruarchive@2 will go beyond the Selected Works and be even richer and will contain vastly expanded Nehru-related material from many more sources in India and abroad including letters, photos, documents, books, films, audio recordings and cartoon sketches that appeared during his lifetime," he said. https://x.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/2121434561666297937?a=FWdiF1SDOc3yXkXcBIg&s=20 Ramesh also highlighted the origins of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, of which the digital archive is an initiative. He said the fund's Deed of Declaration of Trust was signed on December 21, 1964, by the then Vice President of India, Dr Zakir Husain, and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, along with 30 other distinguished individuals. "nehruarchive.in is an initiative of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund whose Deed of Declaration of Trust was signed on Dec 21, 1964 by the-then Vice President of India, Dr. Zakir Husain and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri along with 30 other extremely distinguished men and women. Their names along with their signatures for the Deed make for fascinating reading. What a glittering galaxy that was. The Appeal by the-then President of India Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was compelling and moving," he said. The statement came on the same day BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan urged Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family to return 51 cartons of Nehru's correspondence to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library (PMML). Kesavan maintained that the documents formed part of the country's documentary heritage and should be returned to the institution. The issue has remained a point of political contention between the BJP and the Congress.(ANI)
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