Gujarat based researcher writes letter to Sonia Gandhi; seeks access to Nehru papers

September 23, 2024

Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad based professor, author, researcher and historial Dr. Rizwan Kadri who is also one of the members of the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library (PMML) Society (formerly Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, or NMML) has written a letter to the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi asking her to either return the personal papers of Nehru, provide copies, or offer digitised access to it.

Kadri in talk with the news agency ANI stated, “…I have written a letter to Sonia Gandhi and asked her to return the private letters of Nehru which were taken by her office, as she was the family’s representative and donor…51 boxes were withdrawn from there in 2008…The collection which was withdrawn includes Jayaprakash Narayan, Babu Jagjivan Ram, Edwina Mountbatten collection and several other collections…The collection once donated cannot be withdrawn but this is withdrawn…What was the motive behind withdrawing the letters exchanged between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, this was donated by the original donor to the institution…Was there any objectionable thing in that, what was the motive for taking this collection back…In the letter written to Sonia Gandhi, I have asked her to return this to PMML or give us a copy of it…I am confident that this was done in good faith to protect these invaluable documents, but historians like me are keenly interested in tracking them…I have demanded that either a scanned copy should be made available to us or they could suggest to us their place where we could sit and do research…it is crucial that these records remain accessible to ensure a comprehensive understanding of our nation’s history…We also want that a forensic audit should be conducted to ensure important papers are not missing…”

DeshGujarat

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