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Where history comes alive

Special Correspondent

REAL-LIFE IMAGE: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sit near a statue of the former President, S. Radhakrishnan, at the Parliament Museum which was inaugurated in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Monday inaugurated the high-tech Parliament Museum here. Mr. Kalam, who sat next to a life-size statue of the former President, S. Radhakrishnan, said: "I was transported into that setting of Parliament [last meeting of the Constituent Assembly] and it was a novel experience." He said the flow of historical events and the extensive use of high technology to create "virtual reality" was inspiring.

To enrich the vibrancy of the institution, Mr. Kalam suggested that children below 17 years should be able to visit and see the good side of politics and democracy. He also said a `Political Vision Research Laboratory' should be set up where young scholars could study and analyse the recorded discussion on development programmes in agriculture, manufacturing and services sector leading to an Economic Development Progress Laboratory. Results of these research programmes should be used to create a pre-induction training programme for first-time MPs and MLAs.

In his address, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat recalled Nehru's speech, delivered on the eve of Independence Day — "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge... " Mr. Shekhawat said while the country has progressed a lot towards redeeming it, the pledge still remained to be redeemed in full measure.

Thanking Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for having conceived the idea of a museum, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was a "magnificent gift to our nation on the eve of our 60th year of Independence." He said that in the last six decades India had emerged as a vibrant democracy.

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