Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's remarks at the inauguration of parliament museum

"I am truly delighted to be present here today at the inauguration of the Parliamentary Museum on the eve of the 60th Independence Day. It is a splendid museum that will portray the history and living traditions of our unique democracy.

Mr. Speaker Sir, on behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you for having conceived this idea. This is a magnificent gift to our nation on the eve of 60th year of independence. Sir, tomorrow we enter the sixtieth year of our independence. In these six decades India has emerged as a great and vibrant democracy. Never before, in the history of the world, have a billion people voluntarily sought their salvation from the legacy of poverty, ignorance and disease through a system of representative government that has provided strong protection to individual rights and freedom. By show-casing this magnificent history of our democracy, the Museum celebrates the success of our efforts.

I am happy that the Museum has a section on our freedom struggle. The views of Bapuji, Dr. Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and the many architects of our democracy reflect the values and principles of our democracy as envisioned by the founding fathers of our republic.

One of the fundamental objectives of our democracy has been the attempt to make it inclusive and representative of the diversity of India. In this context, I hope we can work together to realize the goal of increasing the participation of women in our Parliament. This Museum or archives should have a separate section devoted to the magnificent role of our women in the functioning of our democracy. It should also have a section on Parliament's role in social and economic empowerment of the weaker sections and minorities.

In one of his writings, Jawaharlal Nehru had said 'a museum is a collection of all kinds of things of beauty or things of utility from the past and present. It should convey to us some idea of the larger scheme of life. It should ultimately lead to or at least help in the understanding of the present scheme of things'. I sincerely hope these words will guide the authorities of this museum in building a unique institution worthy of our heritage that will record, reflect and celebrate our achievements at the fountainhead of our democracy.

Sir, with these words let me congratulate both the Lok Sabha Secretariat and the Rajya Sabha Secretariat for their invaluable effort in putting up this magnificent museum. I hope that particularly our children and youth will be encouraged to visit it, because it is the younger generation who must water this plant of our democracy. This museum should inspire them to do so.

I congratulate all those associated with the museum and wish it all success."