NEW DELHI: The Union Government on Wednesday clarified that the documents related to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru were not missing, but 51 cartons of papers sent to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in 2008 remain untraceable.

The clarification came in the wake of the Congress party demanding an apology from the BJP-led government after the Ministry of Culture informed the Lok Sabha that the Nehru papers were not missing from the Prime Minister's Museum and Library (PMML).

The government told Lok Sabha that the routine verification exercise at the PMML had not flagged the absence of any records or correspondence associated with Nehru, proving the BJP's political sparring against Congress as false.

Reacting to the ministry's remarks, the Congress sought an apology from the Government.

Issuing a clarification, the ministry said in a post on X, "Vide letter dated 29.04.2008 Shri M V Rajan, representative of Smt. Sonia Gandhi, requested that Smt. Gandhi wishes to take back all of the private family letters and notes of former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru. Accordingly, 51 cartons of Nehru Papers were sent to Smt. Sonia Gandhi in 2008...Therefore, Nehru Papers are not "missing" from PMML as their whereabouts are known."

The ministry further stated that PMML has been in continuous correspondence with the office of Gandhi since then for return of these papers, including the letters from PMML to her.

"These documents, relating to the first Prime Minister of India, form part of the nation’s documentary heritage and not a private property. Their custody with PMML and access to citizens and scholars for research is vital," the ministry said.