New Delhi, Sept 09: The Babu Jagjivan Ram Smriti Samiti today urged President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to declare former deputy prime
minister late Jagjivan Ram's residence as a national memorial.
Alleging that government was forcibly getting the 6, Krishna Menon Marg residence in the heart of the capital
vacated, the samiti chairman O P Maurya in separate memoranda to Kalam and Vajpayee said, "Jagjivan Ram was one of the architects of modern India. He had served the nation for more than 65 years in various capacities and responsibilities.
"He was a great patriot, a great freedom fighter, an excellent administrator and a true disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. Cannot this vast nation spare a small piece of land or the bungalow where he spent a major part of his life, serving millions of Indians, as his memorial,?” Maurya asked.
Regretting that the appeal of 381 MPs including former presidents and prime ministers to the government to declare it as 'Babu Jagjivan Ram National Memorial' had gone unheeded, he said, "You can form a government with 381 MPs in parliamentary democracy, but you cannot take a decision to convert a small bungalow in the late leader's name keeping in view the sentiments of crores of people."
Maurya also demanded that an oil portrait of Jagjivan Ram
should be installed in the Central Hall of Parliament.
Bureau Report
