India and France announced a partnership a few months ago to develop Yuga Yugeen Bharat National Museum (YYBN): “The museum of timeless and eternal India” in New Delhi. The museum, which aims to enhance 10,000 years of Indian history through eight large thematic sections, will settle in existing buildings: the North and South Blocks, colonial buildings currently occupied by the main ministries (finances, interior, defense and foreign affairs) which will be rehabilitated and transformed into museum spaces with an area of 155,000 m². France, via France Museum Development (FMD), will bring its methodological expertise, but will not intervene “Basically and the choices of works”said the director of FMD, Hervé Barbaret, in the newspaper The world.
The project will be deployed in two phases, the first relating to the transformation of the North Block, scheduled for June 2026, after the moving of the ministries in the new building of the common central secretariat.
However, this project crystallizes strong controversies. In March 2025, a survey conducted by the Indian media The Wire reveals the lack of transparency of the government and denounces a broadcasting project “An erroneous conception of history”. What will happen to the current national museum, with an area of 35,000 m², which this new museum must replace? Will it be demolished or preserved?
The National Museum of India in New Delhi.
No budget has yet been communicated, apart from a media article Express mentioning a cost of around 2 billion euros, and nothing has been specified as to the storage of objects, the new premises not necessarily guaranteeing good conservation. According to some sources, the collection is made up of government museum loans from other regions of India.
A visit “Virtual” of the museum unveiled in 2023 had aroused the question of the former secretary of union culture, Jawhar Sircar, according to The Wire :: “It is very difficult to understand what they are talking about. The phases have already been determined. All that goes beyond is not history is mythology. »»
The North and South Block in New Delhi, who will welcome Yuga Yugeen Bharat National Museum.
Contacted by The Wire About an internal document detailing the museum plan in twelve wings, historians are concerned in particular with the chronology of the galleries. Professor Supriya Varma, who taught history at Jawaharlal Nehru University and specializes in archeology, said the document reflected “A very outdated archaeological and historical framework. It is a concept of social evolution of the 19th century, long abandoned ”.
In addition, the centralization of decisions at the Ministry of Culture and the absence of public consultation fuel controversy. Some see it as an attempt to rewrite national history in the service of a political agenda. This project is part of the vast redevelopment of the Central Vista, carried by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which aims to transform the administrative heart of New Delhi. According to The Wirethe new museum would be used to promote a version of history valuing Hinduism as an eternal foundation of India, minimizing or demonizing certain episodes – notably the Muslim period – and presenting India (“Bharat”) like the source of modern democracy. This corresponds to the ideology of the ruling party, the BJP, which seeks to strengthen a Hindu national identity.
