Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma has been allotted the bungalow of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, a move severely criticised by the Aam Aadmi Party, which said Centre has "insulted" the late [resident by not converting his residence into a 'Knowledge Centre'.
Kalam was staying at 10, Rajaji Marg residence in Lutyen's zone after his eventful term as President ended in 2007.
"I have been allocated 10, Rajaji Marg by the Urban Development Ministry and I have accepted the offer," Sharma, who has been staying at his private residence in Sector 15, Noida on Delhi's outskirts, told Press Trust of India.
Asked about the demand from friends and supporters of Kalam to convert the Rajaji Marg residence into a memorial, Sharma said, "It is the government's policy not to convert any Lutyen's bungalow into a memorial.
"RLD leader Ajit Singh had also demanded converting the Tughlaq Road residence of his late father Charan Singh into a memorial but the demand was not accepted."
The former president's house has to be vacated by October 31, 2015 and his belongings, which includes numerous books and his Veena, have been shifted out to his home town Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.
Criticising Centre for not converting Kalam's residence into a memorial, senior AAP minister Kapil Mishra said, "limiting Dr. Kalam's work to Rameswaram only and shifting all his documents, books and even Veena to Rameswaram is insulting... his residence should not be vacated but should be converted into a Knowledge Centre in the loving memory of the legend."
The Delhi tourism and culture minister also added that "if the central government doesn't have resources and space to build a memorial for Dr Kalam, let them just hand over all his belongings to Delhi government. Delhi deserves a memorial of Dr Kalam, he belongs to all of us. His memorial should be in Delhi as well as in Rameshwaram."
Incidentally, Sharma was also in the eye of a storm last month for his remarks that Kalam was a great nationalist "despite being a Muslim".
"I am getting an official accommodation after 11 months. Earlier I was allotted 7, Tyagraj Marg, but I could not move there as it was not vacated by the earlier occupant," Sharma said.
The minister also asserted that the "walls of former president's house" will inspire him to do better.
The move has irked and shocked many.
A senior journalist from Tamil Nadu, Bhagwan Singh, has already filed a petition on Change.org asking Kalam’s home to be turned into a Knowledge Centre.
The Change.org petition titled ‘Don’t Insult Dr Abdul Kalam! Make his Delhi home a Knowledge Centre’ describes “Thousands of Dr Kalam’s books and documents that he worked on through his life, the Veena that he often played, are being boxed up, so that Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, who has been in the news recently for his sexist and discriminatory comments, can move in.”
It asks for the bungalow to be instead converted into a knowledge centre or a museum.
As per central government rules, a Type VIII bungalow of this size is allotted only to cabinet ministers or those holding cabinet ranks. However, as a Minister of State and a first-time MP, Sharma is not entitled to it, as per rules.
-- With inputs from Agencies
