Sonia Gandhi hands over key to Nehru papers, access now controlled only by PMO

This material, from the period after August 15, 1947, were willed to the private Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, and remain the property of the Fund. They are in the custody of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), which is a public body. As per the system put in place by Indira Gandhi after Nehru’s death, they could be accessed only with the permission of Nehru’s legal heirs and the Prime Minister of India. The PM is ex-officio head of the NMML Society.

This system has remained in vogue ever since. Besides Nehru’s papers, there are at least six other sets of papers at the Teen Murti library, which can be seen by scholars only with the permission of their heirs.

Now, Sonia Gandhi, Nehru’s granddaughter-in-law and the legal heir of his papers, has written to the library to say that the family would have no problems if scholars were given access to them, it is reliably learnt.

Which means that from now on, it is only the Prime Minister — for the present, the office of Narendra Modi — who would have to be approached for permission to access the papers.

It is believed that this move by Nehru’s legal heirs is intended to counter impressions about Nehru’s position on several key developments of his time as PM, for example, regarding Kashmir or China.

The RSS’s antipathy towards Nehru is well known and, with the BJP in power, the first Prime Minister and his legacy have been receiving more attention than in recent years.

(The original report has been altered to incorporate a clarification.)