The BJP has called on Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to return 51 cartons of correspondence to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library.
The BJP and Congress sparred on Saturday over the ownership of correspondence written by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. On his 137th birth anniversary, BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan urged Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family to return 51 cartons of documents to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library (PMML), according to reports by The Indian Express, Economic Times and Moneycontrol.
Kesavan alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi abruptly took the letters in May 2008 while the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power. He stated that the documents, which include correspondence between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, are part of the country's documentary heritage and not private property. Kesavan added that failing to return them would suggest the Congress first family has something to hide.
The letters were originally donated to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in 1971, before the institution was renamed PMML in 2023. Kesavan also noted that Sonia Gandhi did not mention the matter in her recent memoir.
In response, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh highlighted the popularity of the Nehru Archive, a digital repository of 100 volumes of Nehru's selected works from 1903 to 1964. Ramesh said the archive has had over 1 million unique visitors and over 4 million page views since its launch in January 2025.
The dispute follows previous requests from PMML Society member Rizwan Kadri, who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in September 2024 and to Rahul Gandhi in 2025 seeking the return of the documents for research purposes.
