indian_foxhound
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AMRITSAR: British Prime Minister
David Cameron says a giant
diamond his country forced India
to hand over in the colonial era
that was set in a royal crown will
not be returned. Speaking on the third and final
day of a visit to India aimed at
drumming up trade and
investment, Cameron ruled out
handing back the 105-carat
Kohinoor diamond, now on display in the Tower of London. The diamond
had been set in the crown of the current Queen
Elizabeth's late mother. One of the world's largest diamonds, some
Indians - including Mahatma Gandhi's grandson -
have demanded its return to atone for Britain's
colonial past. "I don't think that's the right approach," Cameron
told reporters on Wednesday after becoming the
first serving British prime minister to voice regret
about one of the bloodiest episodes in colonial
India, a massacre of unarmed civilians in the city
of Amritsar in 1919. "It is the same question with the Elgin Marbles,"
he said, referring to the classical Greek marble
sculptures that Athens has long demanded be
given back. "The right answer is for the British Museum and
other cultural institutions to do exactly what they
do, which is to link up with other institutions
around the world to make sure that the things
which we have and look after so well are
properly shared with people around the world. "I certainly don't believe in 'returnism', as it were.
I don't think that's sensible." Britain's then colonial governor-general of India
arranged for the huge diamond to be presented
to Queen Victoria in 1850. If Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William, who
is second in line to the throne, eventually
becomes queen consort she will don the crown
holding the diamond on official occasions. When Elizabeth II made a state visit to India to
mark the 50th anniversary of India's
independence from Britain in 1997, many Indians
demanded the return of the diamond. Cameron is keen to tap into India's economic rise,
but says he is anxious to focus on the present
and future rather than "reach back" into the past.
http://www.timesofindia.com/india/K...-Cameron-tells-India/articleshow/18606541.cms
David Cameron says a giant
diamond his country forced India
to hand over in the colonial era
that was set in a royal crown will
not be returned. Speaking on the third and final
day of a visit to India aimed at
drumming up trade and
investment, Cameron ruled out
handing back the 105-carat
Kohinoor diamond, now on display in the Tower of London. The diamond
had been set in the crown of the current Queen
Elizabeth's late mother. One of the world's largest diamonds, some
Indians - including Mahatma Gandhi's grandson -
have demanded its return to atone for Britain's
colonial past. "I don't think that's the right approach," Cameron
told reporters on Wednesday after becoming the
first serving British prime minister to voice regret
about one of the bloodiest episodes in colonial
India, a massacre of unarmed civilians in the city
of Amritsar in 1919. "It is the same question with the Elgin Marbles,"
he said, referring to the classical Greek marble
sculptures that Athens has long demanded be
given back. "The right answer is for the British Museum and
other cultural institutions to do exactly what they
do, which is to link up with other institutions
around the world to make sure that the things
which we have and look after so well are
properly shared with people around the world. "I certainly don't believe in 'returnism', as it were.
I don't think that's sensible." Britain's then colonial governor-general of India
arranged for the huge diamond to be presented
to Queen Victoria in 1850. If Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William, who
is second in line to the throne, eventually
becomes queen consort she will don the crown
holding the diamond on official occasions. When Elizabeth II made a state visit to India to
mark the 50th anniversary of India's
independence from Britain in 1997, many Indians
demanded the return of the diamond. Cameron is keen to tap into India's economic rise,
but says he is anxious to focus on the present
and future rather than "reach back" into the past.
http://www.timesofindia.com/india/K...-Cameron-tells-India/articleshow/18606541.cms
