Centre now says it will do its best on Kohinoor

Making a U-turn on the Kohinoor issue, the government on Tuesday said it will make all efforts to bring back the valued diamond which, it had said earlier in the Supreme Court, was “neither stolen nor forcibly” taken by the British rulers but given to it by the erstwhile rulers of Punjab.

In a statement, the government claimed it has not yet conveyed its views to the court, “contrary to what is being misrepresented” in the media. It said that the status report on which the preliminary submission was made by the solicitor-general has references to the stand taken by governments earlier that the Kohinoor was a gift and cannot be categorised as an object stolen.

The government statement came a day after the solicitor-general told the SC: “Kohinoor cannot be said to have been forcibly taken or stolen as it was given by the successors of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to the East India Company in 1849 as compensation for helping them in the Sikh wars.” The court was hearing a PIL which sought government action for the return of the Kohinoor diamond from the UK.

The release said news items on the issue “are not based on facts” and that the government reiterates its resolve to make all possible efforts to bring back the Kohinoor diamond in an amicable manner. It said the factual position was that the matter was sub-judice at present.

The government said the S-G was asked to seek the government’s views, which have not yet been conveyed, and the S-G informed the apex court about the history of the diamond and gave an oral statement on the basis of the existing references made available by the ASI.

The statement also noted that the court granted six weeks on the prayer of the S-G to take instructions for making his submission in the matter. The government said that the status report also has “references to the views of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, dating back to 1956. Pandit Nehru went on record saying that there is no ground to claim this art treasure back. He also added that efforts to get the Kohinoor back would lead to difficulties.”

It also noted that ever since Mr Narendra Modi had taken over as Prime Minister, his efforts had led to three significant pieces of India’s history coming back home and that this “did not affect the relations with the respective countries”.