‘It has been designed for a vast range of internet users, especially the younger generation. It has evoked great interest across a wide range — the general public, students and scholars, professional historians and journalists, admirers, sceptics and critics — and has been providing an authentic primary source that is already being put to use for a variety of purposes,’ Ramesh said.
He asserted that this was only the beginning, adding that the archive would become even richer, with vastly expanded Nehru-related material drawn from many more sources in India and abroad. These would include letters, photographs, documents, books, films, audio recordings and cartoon sketches published during Nehru’s lifetime.
Ramesh said nehruarchive.in was an initiative of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, whose Deed of Declaration of Trust was signed on 21 December 1964, by then vice-president of India Dr Zakir Husain, and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, along with 30 other 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 recalled.
‘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,’ Ramesh said, in an apparent reference to the controversy surrounding Modi’s educational qualifications.
With PTI inputs
