Kohinoor Diamond Belongs To Britain, Says Government In Supreme Court

[Hyperion]

LOL...... the last part was mirch masala!

Nothing of that sort would have happened :/ But yeah surely BJP would have made a hoo haa in opposition just like Congress is making right now. But then again that is the job of the opposition.

Not blood of Muslims but they would have made a huge deal of it.

 

[cloud_9]

Get over it.

Although,according to the will of Maharaja Ranjit Singh ji - the diamond should be given to Jagannath temple Odisha after his death.

Stop pulling stuff from your behind!
But a dogra bringing up Ranjit Singh's will is kind of funny.

 

[The_Showstopper]

I would speculate that the current Government is making this waiver based on current situation where India stands to gain a lot (much more than the worth or symbolism of the kohinoor) from the west...so this stance makes sense so as not to stir up unnecessary shit.

Instead of forfeiting our claim completely, government should have atleast agreed in word that it needs to comeback to its rightful owner(while keeping the issue on the back burner for now)

 

[navtrek]

Afghan King? The Kohinoor belonged to Mughals.
Its funny how Indians distort the Muslim history to suit their propaganda.

First lets stop making it hindu or muslim history. Its our history together and lets leave religion out of it.

 

[Lonely Hermit]

What would have changed had the British not made this country into one

I thought Sardar Patel made this country into one ?

 

[Peshwa]

Instead of forfeiting our claim completely, government should have atleast agreed in word that it needs to comeback to its rightful owner(while keeping the issue on the back burner for now)

I do agree with this...but making a fuss about something so symbolic is useless..
But yes, claims can be made at the right place and the right time...we need to learn when to play the right hand.

 

[The_Showstopper]

I do agree with this...but making a fuss about something so symbolic is useless..
But yes, claims can be made at the right place and the right time...we need to learn when to play the right hand.

Well as I said earlier that Government should have informed the court that it intends to pursue the case and would form a committee to look into which could have satisfied the court/public and then just delay the process indefinitely... I feel wronged when our country's belonging is proudly exhibited by some one else as their own...

 

[Peshwa]

Well as I said earlier that Government should have informed the court that it intends to pursue the case and would form a committee to look into which could have satisfied the court/public and then just delay the process indefinitely... I feel wronged when our country's belonging is proudly exhibited by some one else's as their own...

We all do...
I'll reference what my grandfather once told me in marathi (loosely translating in english)
"When your hands are under a rock, dragging them out will only hurt you.
But once you have managed to move the rock off your hand, spare no one"

Of course the saying is more impactful in its original form, but it applies to this situation.

 

[jaunty]

Well as I said earlier that Government should have informed the court that it intends to pursue the case and would form a committee to look into which could have satisfied the court/public and then just delay the process indefinitely... I feel wronged when our country's belonging is proudly exhibited by some one else as their own...

It seems after getting orders from Nagpur HQ, the govt has changed its position now.

 

[The_Showstopper]

It seems after getting orders from Nagpur HQ, the govt has changed its position now.

Did you mean what you posted or was it just an attempt to troll me?

 

[The_Showstopper]

Two Differing Views:

London Point Of View: Give Back Kohinoor? Fat Chance!

Let's make one thing crystal clear. The Kohinoor diamond isn't going anywhere. In cases of contested ownership, possession is nine-tenths of the law. And what's more, however dodgy Britain's case - and there are plenty a lot more questionable - no government is going to handover, in the most literal of meanings, the jewel in its crown.

So - sorry! This outsize diamond will be staying where it is. Set in a royal crown, and on display to the millions of tourists (not many Brits bother to go there these days) who troop around the Tower of London.

The Indian government knows this, of course. It has for entirely political reasons decided to set aside the statement of its own Solicitor General, who came to the perfectly reasonable conclusion that India has no claim on the diamond because it had been "neither stolen nor forcibly taken by British rulers". The demand for the return of the Kohinoor is not based on international law, but on a sentiment that the former imperial power should not be able to hang on to its ill-gotten Indian baubles.

That sense of patriotism and national pride which fuels demands for the repatriation of the diamond also explains why it's not going to happen. If this were some lesser gem, then just possibly it might get handed over, not as an act of reparation but as a gesture of goodwill. But the thought of prising the prize diamond off the Queen Mother's Crown and parcelling it up for return to - to who exactly? - well, you can see why no UK government is going to be quite that reckless.

The Kohinoor diamond in the Imperial State Crown worn by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (AFP photo)

It's not that the British public is all that attached to the Kohinoor. Indeed, most people have little idea what it is - an exotic name more associated with an Indian takeaway on the high street, perhaps, than a large diamond. But waving goodbye to the most celebrated of the crown jewels would be seen as a national humiliation. And particularly just at this moment - when Britain is feeling a little fragile about its place in the European Union and indeed the world - it would unleash a fury of nationalist sentiment.

Successive British governments have made their position clear on the Kohinoor. "If you say yes to one [request] you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty," Prime Minister David Cameron said in an interview to NDTV while visiting India a few years back. "I'm afraid it's going to have to stay put."

That points to another reason why the Kohinoor is staying where it is. There are many museum artefacts where the case for keeping them in Britain is a lot shakier. Greece has for decades been demanding the return from the British Museum of the Elgin marbles - and with good reason. These are a huge array of sculptures and friezes - extending to an astonishing seventy-five metres - that originally graced the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis in ancient Athens.

The Kohinoor diamond was set in a crown for Queen Victoria and is on display in the Tower of London (AP photo)

While the Kohinoor changed hands through the provisions of a treaty - the 1849 Treaty of Lahore - the Earl of Elgin relied on a distinctly dubious legal document to remove about half of the surviving sculpture and stonework from this remarkable site of antiquities. It's difficult to argue that a diamond needs to be seen in a particular location or context; it is difficult to argue that the Elgin marbles are better off hundreds of miles from their original location rather than amid the buildings they decorated with such distinction.

If ever the Kohinoor was to head back to India, the Greek government would be apoplectic with anger that their vastly stronger case for the return of the Parthenon marbles had not been met.

Some British museums have agreed to requests to repatriate items in their care - particularly human remains and sacred objects. But there is a real determination that blanket "return to country of origin" demands should be resisted.

There is of course a wider issue here. Imperialism was wrong, and so too were the assumptions of racial, cultural and religious superiority which underpinned it. That's beyond question. But we can't simply wipe the globe clean of uncomfortable episodes in our shared past.

Occasionally, legacies of the past which aggravate a continuing wound - the official flying of the Confederate flag in the southern states of the US for example - need to be remedied or removed. But that is a rare instance. And it hardly applies in the case of the Kohinoor.

(Andrew Whitehead, a former BBC Delhi correspondent, is an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham and at Queen Mary, University of London.)

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Kohinoor Must Return. A 12-Year-Old Was Forced To Give It To The British.


"There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism", famously wrote Walter Benjamin.

Many celebrated art objects, many items on display in museums, many monuments, if looked closely, also reveal the history of barbarism.

The priceless Kohinoor diamond which adorned the crown of Queen Victoria and which is on display at the Tower of London is the prized possession of Britain, the supreme colonial power of the past. The history of the Kohinoor is, however, the history of enormous greed and the blatant use of power. At other times, the Kohinoor reveals the history of appeasing the powerful or showing the powerless their place in the world.

The narrative of the Kohinoor also points to many gaps in its history which cannot be filled easily and as such it raises issues of historiography. It is here that conjecture and guesswork fills up for verifiable historical facts and a number of stories get woven around the diamond, making it the subject of legends and folklore. One belief associated with Kohinoor is that it brings misfortune and bad luck to its owner.

What is certain is that the recorded history of Kohinoor is a tale of greed, the temporary buying of peace, and a display of power.

The Kohinoor diamond was acquired from an Afghan king by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the 19th century ruler of Punjab

The precious diamond which was supposedly in the kingdom of Malwa, passed into the hands of Khilji king Alauddin Khilji and, from him, it probably changed many hands to finally be in the possession of Mughal emperor Humayun, son of Babur, who established the Mughal empire in India. Humayun faced the heat of Afghan power, lost the battle of Chausa and Kanauj to Sher Shah, and sought refuge in Persia. The ambitious Persian emperor Tahmasp was in a position to dictate terms in his relationship with Humayun, and Humayun could salvage his self-respect only by gifting him his precious diamond for all that the Emperor did for him, though Tahmasp wanted Humayun to be converted to Shiaism.

The history of the diamond's journey from Tahmasp to Shah Jahan is full of many gaps which cannot be filled easily. Iradj Amini has written a very interesting book titled "The Koh-i-noor Diamond" (Roli Books) and I owe my debt to him for many details in this piece. He notes that "all traces of Babur's diamond (most probably, the Kohinoor) were lost in a maze of conjectures for more than a century. We must wait until the middle of the seventeenth century before suddenly rediscovering it at the court of Shah Jahan." In between this period, there was the rise and rise of Mohammad Said, better known as Mir Jumla, a native of Ispahan in Persia, who later became the most powerful man in the kingdom of Golconda. What is recorded in history (Bernier mentions the gifting of the diamond to Shah Jahan) is that the diamond fell in Mir Jumla's possession and he gifted it to Emperor Shah Jahan.

After the decline of the Mughal empire, the diamond was coveted or possessed by whoever was most powerful. It was in the possession of Nadir Shah after he decimated the Mughal power in 1739 in the Battle of Karnal. It fell into the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali when he became a powerful emperor of Afghanistan after the death of Nadir Shah. Abdali's successors (Timur Shah, Zaman Shah and Shah Shuja) found it difficult to hold on to the Kohinoor, and it passed into the hands of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established a very powerful kingdom in Punjab.

The Kohinoor diamond in the Imperial State Crown worn by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (AFP photo)

The argument that Kohinoor was gifted as "voluntary compensation" by the heirs of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to the British glosses over the unequal relationship between the powerful British and a kingdom in disarray, ruled by 12-year-old Maharaja Dalip Singh. Punjab was annexed by Lord Dalhousie and very humiliating conditions of annexation were forced on the kingdom. One of the conditions of annexation of Punjab related to the possession of Kohinoor. This condition read: "The gem, the Koh-i-noor, which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-mulk by Maharaja Ranjit Singh shall be surrendered by the Maharaja of Lahore to the Queen of England." In fact, after Maharaja Dalip Singh signed the humiliating terms of annexation, Dalhousie boasted: "It is not every day that an officer of their Government (British government) adds four millions of subjects to the British Empire and places the historical jewel of the Mughal Emperors in the crown of his Sovereign. This I have done."

This was the period of the height of British power and this is colonial discourse displaying all possible arrogance. Probably there is greater awareness about the nature of colonial loot today but the naked display of power by present nation-states has not disappeared. The colonialism which depended on the actual annexation of land has been replaced by a more indirect kind of economic control of weaker nations. As a country which has been at the receiving end of colonial loot, India must continue to press for the return of Kohinoor. True that the chances of getting back the diamond may be negligible but that is no reason not to take up the issue. The Supreme Court has very rightly refused to reject the demand for the return of Kohinoor. Chief Justice T.S. Thakur made a very apt observation that "if there is a legitimate claim for the diamond, will our dismissal at this stage come in your way? Because the country which holds the diamond may say your Supreme Court itself has dismissed a petition to re-claim the diamond, so why should we entertain you (the Government of India)?"

India can certainly adopt a morally superior position on this issue as it has not colonized any country in the past as the Chief Justice also observed. The debate on the colonial loot is important not only to analyse the past, but to learn some lessons about the present, because the present forms of the display of power often replicate colonial patterns. The government need not be defensive about making a legitimate demand for the return of Kohinoor. The diamond is valuable not only in material terms, but in symbolic and moral terms. The barbarism which is the obverse side of civilization should be exposed rather than deleted from view.

(Mohammad Asim Siddiqui teaches English at Aligarh Muslim University)

 

[somebozo]

kohinoor was never Indian..the first right of return would be to Iran where it was discovered...

 

[Hindustani78]

India’s credentials regarding the ownership of the product was based on historical evidence, says Centre to Supreme Court
Over 167 years after the Kohinoor diamond was “duplicitously confiscated” by the East India Company from a minor Indian maharaja, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the diamond, though a “symbol of victory” for the British Empire, represented the “sentiments of the people of India.”

The seven-page affidavit filed by the Centre said India’s credentials regarding the ownership of the Kohinoor diamond was based on historical evidence and could not be doubted.

The affidavit was filed by the Ministry of Culture exactly two months before British Prime Minister Theresa May visited India to bolster trade ties between both countries.

The affidavit has an open-ended conclusion, saying the government was “continuing to explore ways for a satisfactory resolution” over the diamond with the U.K. The affidavit was perused by a Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur recently on a petition filed by the All India Human Rights and Social Front against the High Commissioner of the U.K.

‘Act toothless’
The affidavit said the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act of 1972 was toothless as the British East India Company confiscated the Kohinoor diamond from the boy king, Maharaja Duleep Singh, in 1849.

Though both India and the U.K. were signatories to the UNESCO Convention on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, a restitution of Kohinoor would require a “special agreement” between both countries.

In an earlier hearing, the Centre represented by Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar had submitted that if “we start claiming the treasures from the museums of other countries, they will claim their treasures from our museums.” To this, the CJI had said “this country has never colonised other nations. The precious artefacts in our museums were gifts.”

 

[Cyberian]

There's a bigger chance of Afghanistan reclaiming the Kohinoor than Asia's largest toilet.