Govt backtracks, says all possible efforts will be made to bring back Kohinoor

After telling the Supreme Court on Monday that the government will not ask the UK to return the Kohinoor Diamond to India because it was given as a gift, the Centre backtracked on Tuesday and said it would "make all possible efforts to bring back the Kohinoor Diamond in an amicable manner".

The Culture ministry issued a statement on Tuesday evening which said: "...with regard to the Kohinoor Diamond too, Government of India remains hopeful for an amicable outcome whereby India gets back a valued piece of art with strong roots in India".

According to sources, the government changed tack on the order of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meetings were held on Tuesday between officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Culture Ministry and the Archeological Survey of India, working to prepare a draft action plan that will investigate all the possible means of bringing the Kohinoor back to India, says The Economic Times.

One argument holds that since Maharaja Dalip Singh was a minor when he presented the Kohinoor to the East India Company, it cannot be considered as a gift but as theft according to the prevalent laws.

The Modi government will also likely blame the Congress, particularly the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, for the lack of any action to bring back the Kohinoor. The Culture ministry has already said that when the Centre said the Kohinoor was a gift, it was based on Nehru's statements.

"Pandit Nehru went on record saying that there is no ground to claim this art treasure back," said the statement issued by the Ministry of Culture. "He also added that efforts to get the Kohinoor back would lead to difficulties. Pandit Nehru also said, 'To exploit our good relations with some country to obtain free gifts from it of valuable articles does not seem to be desirable. On the other hand, it does seem to be desirable that foreign museums should have Indian objects of art.'"

This statement by Nehru, said the Culture ministry's statement, was what the Solicitor General had referred to in court as part of an oral history of the diamond based on earlier government positions.

In this context, clarified the ministry, "Government of India has not yet conveyed its views to the court, contrary to what is being misrepresented".