The Centre on Tuesday clarified that it will make all possible efforts to bring back the Kohinoor diamond from Britain. This came a day after the Solicitor General (SG) told the Supreme Court the Culture Ministry’s view that the British received the Kohinoor as a gift and did not steal or forcibly take it away.
“The Solicitor General of India was asked to seek the views of the Government of India, which have not yet been conveyed. The Solicitor General of India informed the court about the history of the diamond and gave an oral statement on the basis of the existing references made available by the Archaeological Survey of India. Thus, it should be reaffirmed that the Government of India has not yet conveyed its views to the court, contrary to what is being misrepresented,” the Government said in a release on Tuesday.
The SC granted six weeks’ time on the prayer of the SG to take instructions for making his submission in the matter.
The release said that the status report on which the preliminary submission was made by the SG had references to the stand taken by Governments earlier that the Kohinoor was a gift and cannot be categorised as a stolen object. The material has references to the views of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dating back to 1956. Nehru went on record saying that there was no ground to claim this art treasure back.
He also added that efforts to get the Kohinoor back would lead to difficulties, the release said.
The release cited Nehru as saying, “To exploit our good relations with some country to obtain free gifts from it of valuable articles does not seem to be desirable. On the other hand, it does seem to be desirable that foreign museums should have Indian objects of art.”
The statement said that since he had taken over as the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s efforts have led to three significant pieces of India’s history coming back home.
“In October 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned a 10th century Indian statue of Goddess Durga that was stolen in 1990 and found in 2012 at a museum in Germany. In April 2015, then Canadian PM Stephen Harper returned a sculpture known as the Parrot lady, which dates back to almost 900 years. Then Australian PM Tony Abbott, on his India visit in 2014 had returned antique statues of Hindu deities that were in Australian art galleries. None of these gestures affected India’s relations with either Canada, Germany or Australia,” the statement said.
“Thus, with regard to the Kohinoor too, Government of India remains hopeful of an amicable outcome whereby India gets back a valued piece of art with strong roots in our nation’s history,” it said.