Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 16: The union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has threatened to take action if the Gandhi family failed to return to the Prime Minsters’ Museum and Library (PMML) some letters and other papers of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allegedly taken away from the erstwhile Nehru Memorial Museum by Mrs Sonia Gandhi in 2008.
The issue came up in the Lok Sabha on Monday after the BJP member Sambit Patra raised the matter during question hour expressing doubts if the Nehru papers contained something that the Gandhi family wanted to hide from the public knowledge.
Mr Patra said the issue had been raised during the annual general body meeting of the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library, which is the successor to the NMML, earlier this year. He said some correspondence between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, Babu Jagjivan Ram and Jayaprakash Narayan were removed from the museum by M V Rajan in 2008 at the behest of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who was then chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, and sent to her in 51 cartons.
The Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML), has also written a letter to the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, requesting the Congress to return the personal papers related to Mr Nehru. The papers were donated to the museum. However, were taken away from public access in 2008 at the request of Mrs Sonia Gandhi.
Mr Shekhawat told the Lok Sabha that “action can be taken” on the demand that certain letters of the former prime minister were taken in 2008 by Sonia Gandhi and that these should be returned to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML). Mr Patra had raised the following a newspaper report quoting the Ahmedabad-based historian Rizwan Kadri, also a member of the PMML Society, that he had written to Mrs Sonia Gandhi and again to Mr Rahul Gandhi seeking his help in returning the papers taken by a representative of his mother.
“In the letter, I have requested Rahul Gandhi and mentioned that whatever collection has been withdrawn in 2008 on the behest of Sonia Gandhi Ji, which has around 51 cartons, should be returned.”
In September, Kadri had told the media that 51 boxes, carrying records related to Jawaharlal Nehru, were taken back by Sonia Gandhi’s office from the PMML, formerly known as Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, or NMML.
“The collection that was withdrawn included Jayaprakash Narayan, Babu Jagjivan Ram, the Edwina Mountbatten collection and several other collections,” Kadri had said, adding, that the papers were being demanded back to ensure a comprehensive understanding of India’s history.
In separate posts on X, Mr Patra and the BJP IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, raised suspicion if the contents of the letter needed “censoring” for which Mrs Gandhi took these away from public viewing. “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”!” (sic), Patra wrote.
“In the recently concluded AGM of the PMML one of the members Sh Rizwan Kadri has written to LoP Rahul Gandhi and sought his help in getting back the letters from his mother Sonia Gandhi!” “What intrigues me is what would have Nehru ji written to EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN that needed censoring and will LOP Rahul help getting back the letters between Nehru and Edwina!,” (sic), he added.
In a similar post, Malviya wrote, “This is fascinating! From what is now the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library (formerly the Nehru Museum and Library), it is reported that the then UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, allegedly took away 51 cartons of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to various personalities, including Edwina Mountbatten.”
“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?” (Sic), Amit Malviya’s X post read.
Mr Patra said the records were important to understand the history of India and appealed to the culture ministry to investigate the matter and bring back the records to the museum. In response, Mr Shekhawat said he had noted the suggestion and that action can be taken. Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters later, Patra termed the letters as “historical heritage” and not the property of any family. “What was there in the letters that the first family felt should not be made public,” Patra asked. Patra said there were two issues—one, “the sense of entitlement of the first family”, and second, what was the content of the correspondence. He reiterated his demand that the matter should be investigated and that letters be returned to the museum.
Mrs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also raised the issue of a painting depicting the Pakistani army surrendering to the Indian Army in Dhaka in 1971 being removed from the Ministry of Defence at South Block. The iconic painting had been the backdrop of many official meetings of the Army chief and visiting dignitaries.
Mr Shekhawat later informed the House that the painting had been shifted to a “befitting place” at the Manekshaw Centre on Monday, which marks Vijay Divas, the day the instrument of surrender was signed in Dhaka on December 16, 1971.
The Congress, meanwhile, hit at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointing out that during his prolonged reply in the Lok Sabha on the debate on the constitution pointing out that Mr Modi had nothing new to offer except criticising and defaming Mr Nehru and the Congress party.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said PM Modi has an “obsession” with Nehru as he invoked the country’s first Prime Minister to distract the nation’s attention from his “own failures” and current challenges on which he maintains a “complete silence.”
The Congress’s attack on the Prime Minister came a day after Mr Modi attacked the party during the debate on the “Glorious 75-year journey of India’s Constitution.” On December 14, Mr Modi had accused the Congress of repeatedly mutilating the Constitution, having “tasted blood” in its “greed” for power, as he asserted that his government’s policies and decisions since 2014 have been aimed at boosting India’s strength and unity in line with the vision of the Constitution.
