Jawaharlal Nehru's writings are more than simply history; they are a record of India's changing conscience, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who asserted that India's first Prime Minister's words remain a powerful compass for anybody wanting to understand the country's democratic journey.
Gandhi made his remarks as the digitisation of 'Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru' was completed.
Taking to his X (formerly known as Twitter) account, Gandhi wrote, "I'm glad this legacy is now open, searchable, and free for all. It will keep getting expanded. Dive into the new archive,” sharing the link to the writings.
The 'Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru' is now available online at nehruarchive.in, with an entire set of 100 volumes including over 35,000 documents and 3,000 illustrations associated with the country's first prime minister that have been digitised and made available for free download.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also praised the development.
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes' – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In an era of deliberate distortion, disinformation and misinformation regarding Pandit Nehru and his colossal achievements for India, it is worthwhile to digitise his writings for truth and posterity,” Kharge said on X.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, a trustee of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF), which carried out the project, said on Thursday that the second phase would include efforts to locate letters to Nehru.
He added that the archives have been sourced from 77,000 pages and 35,000 artefacts which are documented and spread over 61 years
According to Ramesh, the Gandhi-Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel-Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose-Nehru correspondences are fairly detailed, but other correspondences such as Winston Churchill-Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore-Nehru are less so.
He stated that adding this would be the most valuable addition to the Nehru archive.
Ramesh advocated for the integration of records from key figures of the time, including Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, BR Ambedkar, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.