'Action Can Be Taken': Union Minister On Demand For Gandhis To Return Nehru's Letters

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Last Updated:December 16, 2024, 19:02 IST

The BJP demanded that Sonia Gandhi should return these correspondences between Nehru and a host of personalities to the PMML, saying they belonged to India and were not anyone's personal property

Union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday told the Lok Sabha that appropriate action can be taken on the demand that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi should return letters of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which she allegedly took in 2008.

The BJP demanded that Sonia Gandhi should return these correspondences between Nehru and a host of personalities to the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML), saying the historical documents belonged to the country and were not anyone’s personal property.

The PMML, in a letter to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, has requested the Gandhi family to return the letters, which include those written by Nehru to Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British viceroy to India, and leaders Jayaprakash Narayan and Jagjivan Ram among others. The erstwhile Nehru Museum and Library Society returned them to Sonia Gandhi in 2008.

In September, too, a similar letter by the PMML urged her to either return the papers, provide copies, or offer digitised access to them. The letters were written by Rizwan Kadri, a historian and author, and a member of the PMML society.

Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, he said: “On September 9, I wrote to Sonia Gandhi Ji and now again I have written to Rahul Gandhi. In the letter, I have requested Rahul Gandhi and mentioned that whatever collection has been withdrawn in 2008 on the behest of Sonia Gandhi Ji, which has around 51 cartons, should be returned."

Kadri had said 51 boxes, carrying records related to Jawaharlal Nehru, were taken back by Sonia Gandhi’s office from the PMML, formerly known as Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, or NMML. “The collection that was withdrawn included Jayaprakash Narayan, Babu Jagjivan Ram, the Edwina Mountbatten collection and several other collections," he had said, adding that the papers were being demanded back to ensure a comprehensive understanding of India’s history.

BJP REACTS

Meanwhile, in separate X posts, the BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra, and the party’s IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, asked if the contents of the letter needed “censoring".

“This is intriguing! From What’s today the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library & formerly Nehru Museum and Library, the then UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi took away 51 cartoons of letters written by Nehru to various personalities including “EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN"!" (sic), Patra wrote.

“In the recently concluded AGM of the PMML one of the members Sh Rizwan Kadri has written to LoP Rahul Gandhi and sought his help in getting back the letters from his mother Sonia Gandhi!"

“What intrigues me is what would have Nehru ji written to EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN that needed censoring and will LOP Rahul help getting back the letters between Nehru and Edwina!," (sic), he added.

This is intriguing!From What’s today the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library & formerly Nehru Museum and Library, the then UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi took away 51 cartoons of letters written by Nehru to various personalities including “EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN"!In the recently… pic.twitter.com/2TVwjPUSi3— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) December 16, 2024

In a similar post, Malviya wrote, “This is fascinating! From what is now the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library (formerly the Nehru Museum and Library), it is reported that the then UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, allegedly took away 51 cartons of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to various personalities, including Edwina Mountbatten."

“What I find particularly intriguing is: what might Nehru ji have written to Edwina Mountbatten that warranted such censorship? And will Rahul Gandhi act to recover these letters?" (sic), Amit Malviya’s X post read.

This is fascinating!From what is now the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library (formerly the Nehru Museum and Library), it is reported that the then UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, allegedly took away 51 cartons of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to various personalities,… pic.twitter.com/JWCCKeHPkG
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 16, 2024

CONGRESS ALLEGES PM MODI INVOKES NEHRU TO DISTRACT ATTENTION

On December 15, the Congress hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that defamation of Jawaharlal Nehru and minimum democratic governance was his model.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said PM Modi has an “obsession" with Nehru as he invokes the country’s first Prime Minister to distract the nation’s attention from his “own failures" and current challenges on which he maintains a “complete silence".