Get back Kohinoor & give it to Puri temple: MP

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday saw a demand for getting back the Kohinoor diamond from Britain and giving it to the Jagannath Temple in Puri. The BJD’s Bhupinder Singh, who raised the issue, said Maharaja Ranjit Singh had willed that the diamond be given to Jagannath Temple as Guru Nanak Dev had visited Puri and mentioned about the deity in the holy book of Guru Granth Saheb. The House also saw the JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav expressing concern over large number of cases pending in courts and asked the government why it was not clearing names of 169 candidates for appointment as judges.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, the BJD MP demanded that the diamond be brought back and restored to whom the Maharaja had willed it to be given. The Centre had recently told the Supreme Court that the heirs of Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave the 105-carat Kohinoor to the British as “voluntary compensation” to cover the expenses of the Anglo-Sikh wars. The BJD leader said it was incorrect to say that the heirs of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had converted to Christianity and offered the diamond to the British.

Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien said every member “will be happy if Kohinoor is brought back.”