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Museum member’s request for letters by Nehru triggers row
A letter from a PMML member to Rahul Gandhi asking for the return of correspondence by India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru was mentioned in Parliament on Monday
A letter from a member of the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking for the return of correspondence by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was mentioned in Parliament on Monday, with Union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat saying action could be taken on the matter.
On December 10, historian Rizwan Kadri, a member of the PMML Society, wrote to Rahul Gandhi, seeking his help in the return of 51 cartons of Nehru’s correspondence with various personalities that were allegedly withdrawn from the Nehru Museum in 2008 at the request of Sonia Gandhi.
Raising the issue during the Question Hour, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Sambit Patra said in the Lok Sabha that the PMML Society had decided to request for the return of the letters at its general body meeting earlier this year.
“Whether the minister can answer if in the AGM, a decision was taken get the Nehru letters back from Sonia Gandhi? I request the culture ministry look into this matter,” Patra said.
Union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat responded, saying that he noted down Patra’s suggestions and that “appropriate action can be taken” in the matter.While I cannot say much right now since it’s not a listed question by the MP, I have noted down his suggestions and rest assured an appropriate action will be taken,” Shekhawat said.
Later, Patra, who is also a BJP spokesperson, cited reports of the PMML’s deliberations on the issue to note that Nehru’s letters to Albert Einstein, Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British viceroy to India Lord Mountbatten, Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali and Jagjivan Ram, among others, lay with the erstwhile Nehru Museum and Library Society, which returned them to then UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in 2008.
“This is a part of our historical heritage and not the personal property of any family. It is a sense of entitlement to claim ownership over letters written by someone’s father, grandfather, or grandmother. These letters are crucial to the comprehensive history of India,” Patra told reporters.
The NMML was expanded to include memorials to all prime ministers and renamed PMML in 2023.
Kadri’s letter asked Rahul Gandhi’s “collaboration in exploring possible solutions.” “Researchers like me are still waiting to get access to these crucial documents. I hope they will eventually be digitised and made available to the public,” he said.
Kadri – one of the eight members of the PMML headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – said that an internal inquiry was set up to probe the matter, noting that some members raised concerns over the withdrawal of the documents, which were donated to the museum.
Patra also alleged that Kadri wrote to Sonia Gandhi in September, requesting the return of the papers or permission to scan them for research purposes, but did not receive a response.
