Let Us Embrace: Shashi Tharoor Wades Into 'Sengol' Row

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday waded into the controversy surrounding the historic 'Sengol' installed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the new Parliament inauguration ceremony.

Interestingly, Tharoor's stand is quite different from his own party on the issue of 'Sengol' as he urged everyone to embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of the present.

Taking to Twitter, 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 debatable 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," Tharoor tweeted.

"Instead we should simply say 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," he added.

"Let us embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of our present," Tharoor said.

Tharoor's remarks come amid a political slugfest between the Congress and the BJP over the history of the Sengol with the ruling BJP saying it was a symbol of the transfer of power from the British in 1947 but was kept on display as a walking stick at Anand Bhawan in Prayagraj.

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

In a historic event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building on Sunday and installed the 'Sengol' in the Lok Sabha chamber.