Overview
- On Wednesday, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi posted on X a series of letters he attributes to Jawaharlal Nehru concerning the 1951 Somnath Temple consecration.
- Trivedi said the letters show Nehru instructed Indian missions not to assist the Somnath Trust, including denying requests to use Indus River water for the ceremony.
- He alleged Nehru told Ambassador K.M. Panikkar he tried to minimize the impact of the President’s visit to the consecration.
- Trivedi cited Nehru’s April 21, 1951 letter to Pakistan’s Liaquat Ali Khan rejecting as false the story that the temple’s gates were brought back from Afghanistan.
- He further claimed Nehru viewed the reconstruction as harming India’s image abroad and sought reduced media coverage, as the BJP framed these actions as appeasement in foreign policy.