.
New Delhi: Asserting that “51 cartons of Jawaharlal Nehru papers” were formally taken back by the “family” in 2008 from Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (then Nehru Memorial Museum and Library), culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat lashed out at Congress asking its senior leader Sonia Gandhi “why have these papers not been returned despite multiple reminders from PMML including the recent reminders in January and July this year”.Pointing out that Gandhi herself has acknowledged in writing that these papers are with her and promised to “cooperate” on the matter, Shekhawat sought that Gandhi honour her commitment and return these papers to PMML.Shekhawat’s sharp rebuke came a day after Congress spokesman and senior leader Jairam Ramesh asked “will there be an apology forthcoming” citing the govt’s reply to a question in Lok Sabha that no papers relating to Jawaharlal Nehru were found missing in the annual inspection of PMML.“In reality, 51 cartons of Jawaharlal Nehru papers were formally taken back by the family in 2008 from PMML (then Nehru Memorial Museum and Library). Their location is known. Hence, they are “not missing”,” Shekhawat said in a post on X.“These are not private family papers. They relate to the first Prime Minister of India and form part of our national historical record. Such papers belong in public archives, not behind closed doors,” Shekhawat said in a post on X. The ministry of culture cited a April 29, 2008 letter wherein it was requested that Gandhi wished to take back all of the private family letters and notes of former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru. Accordingly, the papers were sent to Gandhi.“I respectfully ask Sonia Gandhi ji to explain to the country: What is being withheld? What is being hidden?,” Shekhawat asked and said that the “excuses” being given by Sonia for not returning these papers are “not tenable”.“History cannot be curated selectively,” Shekhawat said and added that “transparency is the foundation of democracy and archival openness is its moral obligation which Mrs Gandhi and the “family” need to uphold”.Shekhawat in his reply to Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s post said, “The truth placed before the Lok Sabha is clear and on record”. ”The Nehru Papers were taken out in 2008, during the UPA period, when public institutions were often treated as family preserves,” he said.“In fact it would be more appropriate for you to urge Sonia Gandhi to honour her commitment and return these papers to PMML so that scholars, citizens, and the Parliament can access these crucial historical records and the truth of “Nehruvian” times can be examined objectively,” Shekhawat said to Ramesh.
