“Letters would greatly benefit scholars…”: Centre Calls on Rahul Gandhi to Return Nehru’s Correspondence with Prominent Figures of the 20th Century

The Prime Minister's Museum and Library (PMML) has made a formal appeal to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, urging him to return a collection of historical letters that once belonged to former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The collection includes personal letters Nehru exchanged with personalities such as Babu Jagjivan Ram, Aruna Asaf Ali, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Padmaja Naidu, Edwina Mountbatten, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Albert Einstein. These letters, which were removed from public access in 2008 at the request of Sonia Gandhi, have been privately stored ever since.

“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. We would be grateful for your collaboration in exploring possible solutions,” the letter addressed to Rahul Gandhi states.

This letter comes months after a previous request sent to Sonia Gandhi in September, asking her to either return or allow the digitization of the documents. Historian and author Rizwan Kadri, a member of the PMML Society, explained the need for access to these materials. “In September 2024, I wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting that the 51 cartoons from approximately eight different sections, which were part of the Nehru collections at the Prime Ministers' Museum (formerly the Nehru Memorial), be either returned to the institution, or we be granted permission to scan them, or provided with their scanned copies. This would allow us to study them and facilitate research by various scholars,” Kadri said.

The collection of 51 boxes of personal letters, originally transferred to the PMML (formerly the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library) in 1971, was donated by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. These letters, exchanged by Nehru with notable 20th-century figures, were kept to preserve his legacy and encourage the study of modern Indian history. Established in 1961 at Nehru's former residence, Teen Murti Bhavan, the museum’s charter focused on collecting personal papers to support research and public access through archives and publications.

In August of the previous year, the NMML was renamed the Prime Minister's Museum and Library to honor all Indian Prime Ministers. Records from the PMML’s Annual General Meeting in February show that Nehru’s letters were sent by the Memorial Fund in stages, starting in 1971, for safekeeping by Nehru's legal heir, Indira Gandhi. The PMML asserts that ownership of these letters remains with Nehru’s heirs, including Sonia Gandhi, with access requiring her explicit permission, as confirmed by a 1988 letter.