It was business as usual at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum here on Friday, with tourist buses and taxis competing for parking spots and visitors snaking their way through the packed rooms of 1, Safdarjung Road.
But Friday wasn’t just any other day. It marked the 30 anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination at her residence. Mrs. Gandhi was walking towards her office next door at 1, Akbar Road when she was shot by her bodyguards on October 31, 1984. After her death, the home was converted into a museum in her memory.
On Friday, flowers marked the spot where Ms. Gandhi fell and a large photograph of the Congress leader was placed at the pathway between the home and office.
After going through the exhibits and the well-preserved private rooms inside the house, visitors offered floral tributes at the spot where the former Prime Minister was shot.
While the museum remained packed throughout the day, the officials said there was no spike in footfalls. “We get between 3,000 and 15,000 visitors every day depending on the season. Starting from the monsoon season, the daily footfall is around 10,000,” said a museum official.
The official, who did not want to be named, said the museum gave younger visitors a new perspective. “A lot of children visit the museum and they are mostly interested in having an outing with their friends. But they leave with a greater understanding of the importance of this place.”
Earlier in the day, a memorial ceremony with a recital of devotional songs was held before the museum was thrown open to the public. Long queues gave way to the crammed and narrow paths that took visitors around the house. Groups of college students, families on vacation and young Delhiites passing time trudged through the museum.
A tourist from Mumbai, Sonal, said the museum was on her “must-see” list. “I wasn’t a supporter of Ms. Gandhi, but I just wanted to see her house and show my children this part of history,” she said.
Meanwhile, a group of homeopathy students from Tamil Nadu said none of them was really “into politics”, but the museum was a part of their itinerary. Shailesh Rathore from Gujarat said he remembered being informed of Ms. Gandhi’s assassination when he was a child.
“Coming to her house has jogged my memory, now I remember the newspapers from that day,” he said.
For hawkers and souvenir sellers outside the museum, the anniversary made no difference. Bishan, who sells books on Ms. Gandhi and sight-seeing in Delhi, said sales on Friday were no different from any other day. “This place is always packed. When people come to Delhi, they have to come here,” said the self-styled “tourist expert”.
