Let us embrace this symbol from past to affirm values of our present: Shashi Tharoor on Sengol

Amid the raging Sengol row, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the positions taken by the government and the Opposition on the issue are reconcilable, as he called for embracing this symbol from the past to affirm the values of our present. His remarks come amid a war of words between the Congress and the BJP over the history of the Sengol with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it was a symbol of the transfer of power from the British in 1947 and should have gotten its due respect after Independence, but was kept on display as a “walking stick” at Anand Bhawan in Prayagraj.

The Congress has claimed there was no documentary evidence of Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari and Jawaharlal Nehru describing the Sengol as a symbol of transfer of power from the British to India.

In a long Twitter post, Tharoor said, “My own view on the Sengol controversy is that both sides have good arguments. The government rightly argues that the sceptre reflects a continuity of tradition by embodying sanctified sovereignty and the rule of dharma. The Opposition rightly argues that the Constitution was adopted in the name of the people and that sovereignty abides in the people of India as represented in their Parliament, and is not a kingly privilege handed down by divine right.”

“The two positions are reconcilable if one simply drops the debateable red herring about the sceptre having been handed to (Jawaharlal) Nehru by Mountbatten to symbolise the transfer of power, a story for which there is no proof,” he said.

Tharoor said instead it should be simply said that the Sengol sceptre is a traditional symbol of power and authority, and by placing it in the Lok Sabha, India is affirming that sovereignty resides there and not with any monarch.

“Let us embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of our present,” the former Union minister and MP from Thiruvananthapuram said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building here on Sunday morning and installed the historic Sengol in the Lok Sabha chamber.