BJP, Congress Clash Over 51 Cartons of Jawaharlal Nehru Papers
Row erupts after BJP flags ‘missing’ documents; Centre says papers are with Sonia Gandhi, Congress hits back
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 19th Dec: A fresh political confrontation has broken out between the BJP and the Congress over 51 cartons of documents linked to India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which the government says should be housed at the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML), a centrally maintained national archive.
The controversy surfaced after BJP MP Sambit Patra raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, seeking clarification from the Ministry of Culture on whether certain documents related to Nehru were “missing” from the PMML and whether they had been “illegally removed”. The ministry responded that no documents related to India’s first Prime Minister had been found missing.
The reply was quickly seized upon by the Congress, with party general secretary Jairam Ramesh calling it an own goal for the BJP. Posting screenshots of the question and reply on X, Ramesh said, “The truth was finally revealed,” and asked whether an apology would now be forthcoming.
However, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat later issued a clarification, asserting that the documents could not be described as “missing” because their whereabouts were known. According to Shekhawat, the cartons are with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who withdrew them in 2008, citing that they were private and personal papers of the Gandhi family.
“Nehru’s papers are not ‘missing’,” Shekhawat said, adding that the documents were handed over officially with proper records and catalogues maintained by the PMML. He questioned why the papers had not been returned despite multiple reminders, asking, “What is being withheld? What is being hidden?”
Shekhawat argued that the documents form part of India’s national historical record and should be accessible to the public. “These are not private family papers. They relate to the first Prime Minister of India and belong in public archives, not behind closed doors,” he said, insisting that history cannot be curated selectively.
Sonia Gandhi has not responded publicly to the minister’s remarks.
The Congress, meanwhile, dismissed the BJP’s focus on Nehru, accusing the ruling party of avoiding pressing governance challenges. Congress MP Imran Masood said the BJP was obsessed with Nehru while ignoring issues such as air pollution in Delhi, the weakening rupee and broader economic concerns.
“Nehru appears even in their dreams,” Masood said, adding that the BJP had little else to talk about. Congress leaders also pointed to repeated BJP attacks on Nehru’s legacy, including allegations related to foreign policy, the India-China border and claims about changes to Vande Mataram, which the party has consistently denied.
The Nehru papers controversy has once again underscored how the legacy of India’s first Prime Minister remains a recurring flashpoint in the political battle between the BJP and the Congress.
