Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prasad Harichandan on Wednesday demanded to pass a unanimous resolution during the current session of Assembly to bring the Kohinoor diamond to the lord Jagannath.
He called upon all Odisha MPs to raise the issue in the Parliament and mount pressure on the Union Government for repatriation of the precious diamond of 108.93 carat to the lord.
He said the PCC would meet the Ministry of External Affairs on the second week of May in this regard.
Addressing a Press conference here, Harichandan attacked the Centre over its stand on Kohinoor, saying it would launch a campaign so that the diamond, which “rightfully” belongs to lord Jagannath can be brought back to India and offered to the 12th century shrine.
Saying that Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab had willed the Kohinoor diamond to lord Jagannath temple in Puri as his last wish, Harichandan demanded that the wish of the Maharaja should be respected. He said the Maharaja’s wish is known from a letter sent by the Political Agent and Commissioner, Peshawar to the Officiating Secretary of the Government of India in July, 1839. The letter is preserved at the National Archives in New Delhi, the PCC Chief said.
Harichandan said that it was not appropriate on the part of the Union Government to tell the Supreme Court that Kohinoor was neither “forcibly taken” nor “stolen” by the British rulers. “The matter is pending in the Supreme Court. The Odisha Government as well as the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration should become intervener in the case to ensure that the king’s last wish is fulfilled,” said Harichandan.
Quoting historians, the PCC president said the British had forced Ranjit Singh’s successors Duleep Singh, then a minor, to part with Kohinoor in lahore in 1849 and hence it was not given to East India Company as compensation for helping them in Sikh wars.