India has been and will continue to explore ways and means to bring back ‘Kohinoor’, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, from the UK, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. The 108-carat Kohinoor gem was given to Queen Victoria in 1849 by Maharajah Duleep Singh. For decades, Indians have been demanding the government bring back the diamond. Recently, this again became a buzzword after the demise of the longest-ruling monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
When asked about this recent demand, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Friday said this issue is perhaps a little bit beyond the foreign policy dimensions. “My understanding is that the Government of India has responded to this in Parliament, the last being maybe a few years ago, 2018, a few years ago. We have said in that, that we have been raising this matter from time to time with the UK Government or the authorities and that we will continue to explore ways and means for obtaining a satisfactory resolution of the matter,” he said
In 2018, the MEA while responding to a question in Lok Sabha said that it has time and again raised the matter about the return of the Kohinoor and other antiquities with the relevant authorities abroad and that the government was continuing to explore ways and means for obtaining a satisfactory resolution of the matter.
“Mindful of the sentiments that have been expressed by the Indian public and the Parliament, the Ministry of External Affairs after getting the relevant information from the Archaeological Survey of India under the Ministry of Culture has time and again raised the matter about the return of the Kohinoor and other antiquities with the relevant authorities abroad,” the MEA had said in 2018.
Two years before this, the Ministry of Culture had said: “The Government of India reiterates its resolve to make all possible efforts to bring back the Kohinoor Diamond in an amicable manner.”
With inputs from PTI
