Centre begins fresh bid to bring back Kohinoor diamond

The government has begun a fresh bid to get the Kohinoor diamond back to India from the United Kingdom. The famed artefact mounted atop a crown is on display in the Tower of London. A high-level meeting was held here on Friday to discuss the course of action to negotiate with Britain the return of the priceless diamond. 

The meeting, attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma,  was held following a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

This comes about three months after Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Bhartruhari Mehtab told the Lok Sabha that Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s last wish was to gift the precious “Mountain of Light” to Lord Jagannath temple of Puri, but his minor son Dalip Singh had to surrender it to the British “under duress”.

“Maharaja Ranjit  Singh’s wish remained unfulfilled. Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor General of India, had acquired this stone as spoils of the war after the end of the 1849 Anglo-Sikh war. “By no stretch of imagination can it be interpreted that the gifting of the diamond by Dalip, who was hardly eight years, to the Queen of England was an act of cheerful volition,” the BJD leader told the Lok Sabha.

The BJD also placed on the table of the House a copy of a



five-page letter written by the then political agent to the governor general of India and maintained that it was clear  that Lord Jagannath was the “rightful owner” of the Kohinoor diamond.

The party suggested that the Union government may use the document to impress upon the Government of United Kingdom that the Kohinoor must be returned to India.

This gave a fresh twist to the episode as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar had told the Supreme Court in April that the diamond was “neither forcibly taken nor stolen” by the British, but given as a gift to the East India Company by the rulers of Punjab.

Citing a 44-year-old law in the court, he also said the diamond cannot be reclaimed as it was given as a gift in 1849 by the successors of Maharaja Ranjith Singh, and not stolen or forcibly taken from India. Refaced with the solicitor general’s submission before the apex court, the government later came out with a clarification. It reiterated its resolve to “make all possible efforts” to bring back the Kohinoor diamond from the UK in an amicable manner.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear another plea seeking a direction to the Centre to try to bring back the Kohinoor diamond from the UK, tagging it with a similar PIL pending hearing.