‘No Nehru papers missing’: Govt counters Congress claim, cites 2008 transfer to Sonia Gandhi

The Prime Ministers Museum and Library is housed in the historic Teen Murti campus located south of Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi

A day after the Congress questioned the government’s claims in Parliament that no Jawaharlal Nehru-related documents were missing from the Prime Ministers Museum and Library, the Centre issued a statement on Wednesday.

In a series of posts on X, the Ministry of Culture rejected the opposition’s claims . On JN papers: Vide letter dated 29.04.2008 Shri M V Rajan, representative of Smt. Sonia Gandhi, requested that Smt. Gandhi wishes to take back all of the private family letters and notes of former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru. Accordingly, 51 cartons of Nehru Papers were sent to Smt. Sonia Gandhi in 2008. PMML has been in continuous correspondence with the office of Smt Sonia Gandhi since then for return of these papers including the letters from PMML to Smt Sonia Gandhi dated 28-01-2025 and 03-07-2025," it said.

The posts stated that Nehru Papers are not “missing” from PMML as their whereabouts are known.

According to the Ministry of Culture, these documents form part of the nation’s documentary heritage and are not a private property. “Their custody with PMML and access to citizens and scholars for research is vital,” the ministry stated on X.

The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at the government over its reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that no documents related to Nehru were missing from the PMML during its annual inspection, asking if there would be an apology forthcoming.

On JN papers: Vide letter dated 29.04.2008 Shri M V Rajan, representative of Smt. Sonia Gandhi, requested that Smt. Gandhi wishes to take back all of the private family letters and notes of former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru. (1/4) @gssjodhpur

— Ministry of Culture (@MinOfCultureGoI) December 17, 2025

In September, Rizwan Kadri, a member of the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) Society, had said he had written to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to allow physical or digital access to private papers related to former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru that are in her possession.

Sharing the reply of the government in the Lok Sabha, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The truth was finally revealed in the Lok Sabha yesterday. Will there be an apology forthcoming?" The government informed Parliament on Monday that no documents related to the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, have been found missing from PMML during its annual inspection this year.

Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said this in a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha by BJP MP Sambit Patra.

The minister was asked whether PMML has "formulated any policy" for conducting an annual audit of the documents available in the museum. "No, there is no annual audit of documents in the Prime Ministers Museum and Library," Shekhawat said.

It was also asked whether "certain documents related to Nehru have been found missing" from the museum during the annual inspection in 2025. "No documents related to India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, have been found missing from the museum during the annual inspection of the PMML in the year 2025," the reply stated.

Asked whether the said documents were "improperly and illegally removed" from the museum, Shekhawat said, "Does not arise." The Union minister further said in the Annual General Meeting of the PMML in 2025 that "no decision regarding the non-availability of documents related to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was taken".