Rashtrapati Bhavan museum exhibits gifts given to President

Indian Express: New Delhi: Friday, 22 August 2014.

Encased in a glass box, a plaque given by FIFA president Sepp Blatter to former President Pratibha Patil is one of the several exhibits on display in a small enclave. It has a riveting past, embroiled in controversy. It was among the 150 gifts that was transported to Amravati to be displayed at a museum run by Vidya Bharati Shaikshanik Mandal, owned by her family.

Following an RTI petition, the gifts were transported back and sits among the Presidential treasures. Some of these now comprise the collection of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum. Inaugurated last month, this showcases gifts received by successive Presidents from national and foreign dignitaries. “For years now, they have been in the tosha khana (treasury). The process of preparing an inventory began sometime in the 1990s and this museum was conceived only last year,” says Rosy Gupta, in-charge of the museum and guide programme.

Housed in what used to be the stable and the coach house, visitors befittingly step into a representation of a stable complete with a saddle, a hunting box, a horseman and a horse. The enclaves host an impressive range, from the Chonma Chong gold crown given to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam (the 11th President) to a blue cut glass with an etched portrait of Rajendra Prasad (India’s first President). An elephant tusk depicts the story of Krishna on one side and Lord Rama on the other, a silver cigar box with gold clasps has the initials of Dr Zakir Hussain (the third President) and a piano that is estimated to be more than a 100 years old. Among the replicas of ships and boats is a model of a ship made of cloves, presented to Prasad by Dr Sukarno, President of Indonesia. The Blue Gallery has a marble table from Afghanistan, given to Prasad; rocks from the moon and Mount Everest; letters written by Lord Mountbatten and the original military, civil and sports awards conferred by the President. Separate enclaves are dedicated to commemorative stamps and coins as well as replicas of temples.

Reasonable space is also dedicated to furniture that once belonged to the Rajendra suite gifted by people of Saurashtra. “The former President sat on the chowki and ate,” says Gupta. The contributions of architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker have also been acknowledged. Furniture designed by Lutyens is on display, so is his first sketch of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. There are paintings by Baker and Lutyens of the estate and their painting of India Gate.

The museum also shows the making of the nation with effigies and videos that depict war scenes the 1949 Anglo-Sikh and the 1919 Afghan wars pre-Independence meetings, and India’s successive first citizens. “The aim is to bring the presidents closer to the people,” says Gupta. Appointments for visiting the museum are taken online.