A war of words erupted between the Congress and the BJP on Monday after the Prime Minister Museum and Library (PMML) Society asked the grand old party to return late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s historical letters that were withdrawn from the museum allegedly on Sonia Gandhi’s orders in 2008.

The PMML kicked up a political row by urging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to return the letters removed from the museum in 2008 at the instance of her mother and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Sonia Gandhi.

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Rizwan Kadri, a member of the PMML Society, has written to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi requesting him to give back the documents that he called an “important aspect of its history” and were withdrawn from the museum allegedly on the order of senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

“In September 2024, I wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting that the 51 cartons from approximately eight different sections, which were part of the Nehru collections at the Prime Ministers’ Museum (formerly the Nehru Memorial), be either returned to the institution, or we be granted permission to scan them, or provided with their scanned copies. This would allow us to study them and facilitate research by various scholars,” he said.

“These include important correspondences between Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady Mountbatten, as well as letters exchanged with Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, Jayaprakash Narayan, and others. These letters are a significant part of Indian history and have been proven through records to have been withdrawn from the museum in 2008 at Sonia Gandhi’s direction,” Rizwan Kadri added.

Assuming BJP’s role in the move, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit asked whether those raising the issue had even read the late PM’s works that are already published and publicly available. “All of Pandit Nehru’s writings and letters that matter are out in the public domain. Have they ever bothered to read or learn from them? This is nothing but an attempt to politicise history,” the Congress leader said

Meanwhile, Congress MP Tanuj Punia rejected the BJP’s claims, saying, “The public letters of Nehru ji are already accessible in the public domain and quoted widely, even in Parliament. There’s no secrecy around them.”

Political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla criticised the timing of the move, wondering, “Why raise an issue from 2008 in 2024? It’s irrelevant and illogical.”

BJP MP Sambit Patra countered the allegation of concealment, asserting that the Congress seeks to hide sensitive exchanges, including correspondence between Pandit Nehru, Albert Einstein, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Edwina Mountbatten. “The Gandhi family’s restlessness raises questions. The nation wants to know what they’re trying to hide,” he said.

“What did Nehru say to Mountbatten? What conversations took place between Nehru and Jayaprakash Narayan? A historian, Mr Kadri, had to write a letter to Rahul Gandhi, urging him to ask his mother and then UPA Chairperson to return all the letters,” he added.

Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT department, also took to social media, alleging that 51 cartons of Pandit Nehru’s letters were removed from the Nehru Museum and Library, now renamed the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library.

The BJP has accused the Congress of censorship, focussing on personal letters exchanged between the late PM and global figures. The Congress maintains that most documents are public, and only private family correspondence was withheld.