Responding to the Samajwadi Party's request to remove the Sengol from the Parliament, Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani said that the move would be an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu and "the entire South". "A priest from the South gave the Sengol to PM Jawaharlal Nehru and he had accepted it. Over the years, the Sengol has become a walking stick," he said.