PM Narendra Modi installed the sengol in the new Lok Sabha chamber today
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has waded into the massive controversy surrounding the historic sceptre 'sengol' that was installed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the new Lok Sabha chamber today.
The remarks by Mr Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, come after his party termed as "bogus" the government's claims over the sceptre's history.
"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 & the rule of dharma. The Opposition rightly argues that the Constitution was adopted in the name of the people & that sovereignty abides in the people of India as represented in their Parliament, and is not a kingly privilege handed down by divine right," Mr Tharoor said in a tweet.
The government has said the 'sengol' was handed over to Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, late on August 14, 1947 to mark the transfer of power from British to Indians.
The Congress' Jairam Ramesh has said that the sceptre was presented to Nehru by a religious institution in then Madras, but "there is NO documented evidence whatsoever of Mountbatten, Rajaji & Nehru describing this sceptre as a symbol of transfer of British power to India". "All claims to this effect are plain and simple - BOGUS," he added.
Mr Tharoor said the two positions are "reconcilable if one simply drops the debateable red herring about the sceptre having been handed to Nehru by Mountbatten to symbolise the transfer of power, a story for which there is no proof".
"Instead we should simply say that the sengol sceptre is a traditional symbol of power & authority, and by placing it in the Lok Sabha, India is affirming that sovereignty resides there & not with any monarch. Let us embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of our present," the Congress MP said.