Not personal property: Govt asks Sonia Gandhi to return 51 cartons of Nehru letters taken in 2008

The Centre on Wednesday clarified that papers related to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru are not missing from the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML), responding to the Congress’s demand for an apology over the issue.

In a series of posts on X, the Ministry of Culture rejected the opposition’s claims and explained that the controversy relates to private family correspondence.

According to the government, a letter dated April 29, 2008, from MV Rajan, a representative of Sonia Gandhi, requested that she be allowed to take back all private family letters and notes of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Following this request, the government said, "51 cartons of Nehru’s private papers were handed over to Sonia Gandhi in 2008."

The ministry added that PMML has remained in continuous correspondence with Sonia Gandhi’s office for the return of these documents, including letters sent on January 28, 2025, and July 3, 2025.

“As such, Nehru Papers are not ‘missing’ from PMML as their whereabouts are known,” the Ministry of Culture stated.

The government further emphasised that documents related to Jawaharlal Nehru form part of India’s documentary heritage and cannot be treated as private property. It said their custody with PMML and access for citizens and scholars



is essential for historical research.

"I respectfully ask Sonia Gandhi ji to explain to the country: What is being withheld? What is being hidden? The excuses being given by Smt Sonia Gandhi for not returning these papers are not tenable. The point is that why are important historical documents still outside the public archive? These are not private family papers," Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat wrote on X.

The clarification came after the Congress sought an apology from the Centre and the BJP, following a reply in Parliament stating that no Nehru-related papers were missing from PMML.

The issue surfaced in the Lok Sabha after BJP MP Sambit Patra asked whether the PMML’s 2025 annual audit had found any Nehru-related papers missing.

Responding to the question, Shekhawat said the annual inspection had not found any missing documents linked to India’s first prime minister.

"In reality, 51 cartons of Jawaharlal Nehru papers were formally taken back by the family in 2008 from Prime Ministers Museum and Library (then NMML). Their location is known. Hence, they are 'not missing,'" Shekhawat said.

Shekhawat further questioned why the papers were not returned to the PMML despite repeated reminders between January and July 2025. "The nation deserves clarity," he added.