The Congress on Sunday slammed the central government over Delhi’s National Museum being vacated under the Central Vista redevelopment project. The grand old party alleged that yet another majestic structure will be lost as part of the “systematic erasure campaign” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor while expressing his concern said that vacating the National Museum is nothing more than “barbarism, pure and simple.”

“A historic building of immense architectural importance is to be demolished and replaced by a cookie-cutter government building! And in the meantime there will be no National Museum for two years at least. This is barbarism, pure and simple.” he said on X (formerly Twitter).

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, while posting pictures on the museum on his X account, had said that there was no guarantee that this national treasure would survive the supposed relocation.

“Yet another majestic building that combines finely the modern with the traditional is to vanish by the end of this year. The National Museum designed by G B Deolalikar and inaugurated in December 1960 is being demolished. Incidentally, he also designed the main block of the Supreme Court which hopefully will survive,” he said.

“The nation loses not just a majestic structure but also loses a piece of its recent history which is the target of a systematic erasure campaign of the Prime Minister. It has over 2,00,000 priceless exhibits and there is no guarantee that this national treasure will survive the supposed relocation,” Ramesh added.

The National Museum, home to a collection of rich ancient artefacts, is likely to be vacated by the end of 2023 as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project, news agency PTI reported citing the sources on Thursday.

It is not clear whether the over 60-year-old building will be retained or bulldozed after its collections are shifted.

The collections would reportedly be stored in the proposed Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum in the North and South Block of the Raisina Hill complex.

The National Museum was inaugurated in the Rashtrapati Bhavan by C Rajagopalachari, the then Governor-General of India on August 15, 1949, before finding a home at Janpath.

(With inputs from PTI)