Return 'Kohinoor' to India

London, Mar 2: Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi has asked Britain to return the famous Kohinoor diamond to India after successfully spearheading a campaign to stop the sale of Gandhi's spectacles and sandals in New York.

Tushar Gandhi (49), urged the Indian Government to do more to return other treasures, including the Kohinoor diamond, which was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850.

"The Kohinoor diamond is something that rightfully belongs to India," The Times quoted Tushar Gandhi, who heads the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, as saying.

"If the jewels of Windsor were held by an Arab sheikh, then Britain wouldn't really like that. I'd love to see it back in India. Returning it would be atonement for the colonial past."

Tushar Gandhi has been joined by several Indian parliamentarians in condemning the auction as an insult to Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian Independence movement.

ANI