Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Sunday urged former Congress President Sonia Gandhi to return the letters and documents of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library. He said that these documents are the property of the country and not of any particular person.
Documents related to Nehru were kept in the museum for 20 years.
The Culture Minister said that over a period of 20 years from 1970 to 1990, all non-government documents related to Nehru were brought to the museum. These contain personal letters written by Nehru to the people, their replies and his personal comments. Shekhawat said, ‘Similar documents of all the Prime Ministers are preserved in the Prime Minister’s Museum. There are approximately 2.5 crore such documents. Of these, there are four lakh documents related to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru alone.
He said that the documents of other Prime Ministers are the permanent property and heritage of the Prime Minister’s Museum while it is written that Nehru’s documents were not given to the museum as a loan or gift but were given for safekeeping.
57 boxes filled with 26 thousand documents were taken from the museum
The Union Minister said that on April 29, 2008, on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi, her representative M.V. Rajan had written a letter requesting the return of all Nehru’s personal family letters and notes. After this it was decided that since these letters were kept safe in the museum, the letters demanded by the family should be returned to them.
In this sequence, about 57 boxes filled with about 26,000 documents were taken from the museum. Shekhawat said, ‘We have requested to return them. Sonia Gandhi has said that she will look into this matter. Because naturally these documents related to the post of minister cannot be the personal property of any person. We have written two letters to him, we once again urge him to return them.
The museum was built after Nehru’s death.
Regarding Nehru’s letters and documents, the minister said, ‘Nehru Memorial Museum and Library was established after the death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Its name was changed to Prime Minister’s Museum and Library in 2023. A committee was formed to manage the museum, but it did not function properly.
