Return Nehru's letters held by Sonia Gandhi: PM Memorial to Rahul Gandhi

The Prime Ministers' Museum and Library in New Delhi has requested the return of personal letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, citing their historical significance

The Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) in New Delhi has officially requested the return of personal letters written by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which were sent to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in 2008 during the UPA government. 

In a letter dated December 10, PMML member Rizwan Kadri reached out to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, asking him to retrieve the original letters from Sonia Gandhi or provide copies in physical or digital form. A similar request had been made to Sonia Gandhi in September. 

These letters, deemed historically significant, were originally entrusted to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (now PMML) by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial in 1971. However, reports suggest they were packed into 51 boxes and handed over to Sonia Gandhi in 2008. 

 

The collection features correspondence between Nehru and prominent personalities, including Edwina Mountbatten, Albert Einstein, Jayaprakash Narayan, Padmaja Naidu, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, Babu Jagjivan Ram, and Govind Ballabh Pant.

PMML requests Nehru papers’ return

Kadri’s letter to Rahul Gandhi noted that Nehru’s private papers had been handed over to the PMML by his daughter and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971 “for safekeeping rather than an outright gift”. He also referenced the minutes of a 2008 meeting, which recorded Sonia Gandhi taking 51 cartons of the papers. 

Highlighting their historical value, the PMML stated that the letters “provide invaluable insights into a critical period of Indian history” and requested their return to the institution’s archives. 

“We understand that these documents may hold personal significance for the ‘Nehru family’. However, the PMML believes that making these historical materials... more widely accessible would greatly benefit scholars and researchers,” Kadri wrote.

What did the BJP say?

Following the PMML’s appeal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the Gandhi family. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya questioned the intent behind withholding the letters in a post on X, asking, “...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?”

  In a post on X (formerly Twitter), national spokesperson of BJP Sambit Patra mentioned, “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’!”