Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested the installation of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Delhi’s Madame Tussauds with a broom in his hands to spread the message of cleanliness in the country. PM Modi had earlier requested the authorities to install the statue of Mahatma Gandhi prior to his statue being installed in the Madame Tussauds museum at Delhi. The authorities of Madame Tussauds had approached PM Modi to ask for his consent prior to installing his wax figure in their collection, it was to be the first replica installed in the Madame Tussauds museum at Delhi. Showing respect and presence of mind PM Modi instead said, “You have said that you would like the first replica in the museum in India to be mine. Instead, I would request you to consider having the first statue as that of Mahatma Gandhi and that too which depicts him as cleaning his surroundings,” he said. “I will send a photograph that shows Gandhi with a broom.” He went on to add, “It’ll serve to inspire 1.25 billion people of the country with the message of cleanliness across India that is enshrined in the ‘Clean India’ movement underway, and is also something which Mahatma Gandhi’s life teaches us.”
This statement from the incumbent PM is a welcome change from the earlier governments. It shows that with Bharatiya Janata Party led by PM Modi coming to power in India has changed the politics for the better. While the earlier governments mostly led by Congress would have jumped at the opportunity to have a first of anything in their name and would have even went on to suggest that a Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi statue be installed, just to keep up their lineage in the spotlight. For the opposition and the media (the natural extension of political opposition against PM Modi), PM Modi is an iconoclast who is hell bent upon destroying the legacy of India’s first PM, Nehru. However, this move by PM Modi demonstrates that he is far from an iconoclast but believes in rightful heroes of India’s past who contributed in the nation-building with selfless devotion unlike Nehru who did everything with a self-serving attitude and a conscious approach to further his legacy in the form of a dynastic rule, something for which India has paid dearly. PM Modi has repeatedly invoked non-Gandhi PMs of India like Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda and others and have showered praises on their efforts in nation-building. The denial of rightful place of non-Nehru-Gandhi family leaders in the historical pantheon is what PM Modi stands against and it is a just fight.
It will also serve as a major blow to the Congress which has always tried to reap benefits of the Gandhi-Nehru family name. Installing the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the behest of PM Modi will take away the monopoly which Congress has enjoyed over the Gandhi name in the years since independence. It is not just apt but also deserving that the Father of the Nation gets the first honour and not some self-serving politician who can also award himself with a Bharat Ratna to fulfil his whim (Jawaharlal Nehru in 1955, for the uninitiated in ‘Nehruvian legacy’). PM Modi had initially been hesitant about his statue getting installed while he was in power, but consented upon learning that the decision was based on “public opinion”. Managing to find humour in the whole incident PM Modi said that installation of his wax statue would add the much needed “softer” dimension to his personality, one which he lacks according to the opposition.