History in India has always been the epicentre of nearly all the socio-political debates in the country. It was George Orwell who rightly summed up “those who control the past control the future”. There has been a battle of getting hold of history in India and to control political narratives. Whitewashing, sugarcoating and sanitising History are some of the methods the Darbari and pro-Congress ecosystem resorts to in order to mould history in its favour.
Recently, a big revelation came to light from the Prime Minister’s Museum & Library (PMML) regarding the ‘concealment’ of private documents of first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru including his correspondence with Mountbatten’s wife, Edwina Mountbatten.
Notably, Historian Rizwan Kadri, a member of the PM Museum, revealed that former UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi took control of reportedly around 51 cartons of documents in 2008, since then it has been concealed from the public.
The documents involved the correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and prominent figures such as Edwina Mountbatten, Albert Einstein, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Aruna Asaf Ali.
What do they want to “censor” in Nehru’s letter to Edwina: BJP seeks answers
Following the revelations, the Bharatiya Janata Party launched a scathing attack on the Congress party for concealing documents and keeping the Indian public bereft of truth about these letters of Jawahar Lal Nehru, which played a key role in shaping India’s independence movement.
This is intriguing!
From What’s today the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library & formerly Nehru Museum and Library, the then UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi took away 51 cartoons of letters written by Nehru to various personalities including “EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN”!
In the recently… pic.twitter.com/2TVwjPUSi3— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) December 16, 2024
Lambasting Congress over the ‘concealed’ Nehru letters, BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “What intrigues me is what would have Nehru ji written to EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN that needed censoring and will LOP Rahul help getting back the letters between Nehru and Edwina.”
According to the assertion, Sonia Gandhi tried to make sure that the papers remain hidden from public eyes and took them away from the Museum even before they could be digitised, thus sparking intense debates regarding the content of the said letters.
According to Historian Rizwan Kadri, in 2008, Sonia Gandhi sent her representative to the Museum who then took these private documents away from the possession of the NMML, which was re-named as PMML in 2022 by the Modi government.
As per Indian Express report, Historian Rizwan Kadri wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi on 10th December. In the letter, he highlighted that the missing documents are in Sonia Gandhi’s possession, making this the first official acknowledgment of her involvement in the matter.
Rizwan Kadri referred to the minutes of PMML’s 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM), where it was revealed that in March 2008, MV Rajan, a representative of Sonia Gandhi, segregated private papers from official ones at the NMML. On May 5, 2008, 51 cartons containing the personal papers were sent to Sonia Gandhi with the approval of the then NMML Director.
The issue of the missing documents has been raised several times by PMML Society members. But this was formally recorded in the AGM minutes for the first time this year. Kadri’s letter emphasized the importance of these papers for understanding India’s history and requested Rahul Gandhi to advocate for their return.
In an earlier letter to Sonia Gandhi in September, Rizwan Kadri requested that the papers be returned, copied, or digitized to ensure public access and historical preservation. However, no response has been received from Sonia Gandhi.
Kadri’s appeal comes as the PMML Society received a two-month extension, with its term now expiring on January 13, 2025. The historian reiterated the significance of the Nehru papers, transferred to the NMML in 1971, for preserving India’s historical legacy and urged collaboration to either return or digitize the documents.
“The ‘Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund’ generously transferred private papers of Jawaharlal Nehru to the PMML in 1971. These documents provide invaluable insights into a critical period of Indian history. In 2008, a collection of these papers were withdrawn from the PMML, on the request of the then chairperson of the ‘United Progressive Alliance’ (UPA) and present ‘Congress Parliamentary Party’ (chairperson) Smt Sonia Gandhiji”, Rizwan Kadri’s letter said.
The relationship between Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of the last viceroy of India has often been part of public debates. It is well known that Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru, shared a close relationship. An article in the Daily Mail detailed how Edwina developed deep affection for Nehru and how her romantic entanglements impacted her children.
Lady Mountbatten’s daughter, Pamela, once remarked, “She found in Panditji [Nehru] the companionship and intellectual connection she deeply desired. They helped each other overcome their loneliness.”
The Congress party and its allies have often faced serious allegations of attempting to brush the true history under the carpet and pushing a reddish-green history for vested political interests.
Marxists history that throws fake propaganda in the name of history writing has always been encouraged by the oldest political party of India. The recent revelation is again pointing fingers in the same direction.