New Delhi: The Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) has officially asked Congress MP and Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, to return personal letters written by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. These letters, reportedly taken by Sonia Gandhi during the UPA regime in 2008, were addressed to her.
On December 10, Rizwan Kadri, a PMML member, sent a formal letter to Rahul Gandhi, requesting him to retrieve the original documents from Sonia Gandhi or provide photocopies or digital versions. A similar request was also made to Sonia Gandhi earlier in September.
The letters hold immense historical value, as they were originally handed over to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (now PMML) in 1971. However, in 2008, the documents were reportedly packed into 51 boxes and sent to Sonia Gandhi.
The collection includes correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and key figures such as Edwina Mountbatten, Albert Einstein, Jayaprakash Narayan, Padmaja Naidu, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, Babu Jagjivan Ram, and Govind Ballabh Pant.
Kadri explained that these personal documents were entrusted to PMML by Nehru’s daughter and former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, for safekeeping—not as a permanent gift. He also cited minutes from a 2008 meeting, which reportedly recorded that Sonia Gandhi took the letters.
“We acknowledge the sentimental value of these documents for the Nehru family,” Kadri wrote. “However, making these historic materials more accessible would greatly benefit scholars and researchers.”
The issue has sparked political debate,The BJP quickly seized on the issue, with BJP questioning why the Nehru family was holding onto these letters and whether Rahul Gandhi would take action to retrieve them.
