BJP demands return of 51 cartons of Nehru's letters
The party urged Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to return documents to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library.
The BJP on Saturday called on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to return 51 cartons of correspondence belonging to former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library (PMML). According to a report by the Times of India, BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan made the appeal on Nehru's birth anniversary.
Kesavan alleged that the documents, which include letters between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, were removed from the institution in 2008. He stated that the correspondence is part of the country's documentary heritage and should be accessible to the public and researchers through the museum.
Kesavan claimed the papers were originally given to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in 1971 but were retrieved by Sonia Gandhi in May 2008 during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) administration. He questioned why the documents had not been returned and used Rahul Gandhi's 'Daro Mat' slogan to ask for their return.
The Union Ministry of Culture clarified in December 2025 that the papers are not missing as their location is known. The ministry stated the documents were sent to Sonia Gandhi in 2008 following a request from her representative, M V Rajan, to take back private family letters and notes.
Rizwan Kadri, a member of the PMML Society, has previously sought the return of the cartons or permission to digitise them. In 2025, Kadri also approached Rahul Gandhi regarding the historical importance of the material.