Throwing his full weight behind those who are demanding Koh-i-Noor be brought back to India, the place it belongs to, Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati of Jyotish and Dwarka Peeth said on Tuesday that it was nothing short of cowardice on the Centre’s part to abdicate claim on the famed diamond.
“The Britishers had looted the diamond from the Indians. The Centre has humiliated the Indians by saying that it was a gift item having nothing to do with loot,” he said, in his latest of the day-to-day controversial statements he has been dishing out from his ashram in Haridwar.
Notably, in a response to the query of Supreme Court on bringing back the diamond, the Centre has recently stated that the heirs of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had given the Koh-i-Noor to the British as ‘voluntary compensation’ to cover the expenses of the Anglo-Sikh wars.
The Centre further stated that the 105-karat Koh-i-Noor had been handed over to the East India Company by Maharaja Duleep Singh, the son of the legendary Punjab king Ranjit Singh. Hence, India should not stake claim to the famed diamond worth 200 million dollars, the Centre said, adding that it had been neither stolen nor forcibly taken away. A petition was filed at the Apex Court by the All India Human Rights and Social Justice Front.
Speaking to the media persons at his ashram in Kankhal, Swaroopanand Saraswati said, “The Centre seems to be genuflecting before pressure. Saying that the Britishers did not loot this historic piece of diamond from India is tantamount to heaping humiliation on the image of India. History bears testimony to the fact that the Britishers robbed India of it by fraudulent means. The Centre is showing blatant cowardice on the matter,” the controversial seer said.
He also slammed Vishwa Hindu Parishad, saying that the Sangh off-shoot was not in the least interested in making the promised Ram Temple at Ayodhya. It had been merely milking the issue politically, he said. Taking a dig at Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, the seer said they were least bothered about Hindu Dharma, exclusively focused as they were on Hindu nation.