Shashi Tharoor goes against his own party, calls Sengol a traditional symbol of power and authority

New Delhi, May 29: Taking a different stand from his own party thinking on the issue of 'Sengol', the Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, urged everyone to embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of the present.

 

 

He said the government rightly argues that the "sceptre reflects a continuity of tradition", while the Opposition rightly argues that the Constitution "is not a kingly privilege handed down by divine right". He added 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.

 

His remarks come amid a war of words between the Congress and the BJP over the history of the Sengol with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it was a symbol of the transfer of power from the British in 1947 and should have gotten its due respect after Independence, but was kept on display as a “walking stick” at Anand Bhawan in Prayagraj.

 

 

 

Taking to Twitter, MP from Thiruvananthapuram 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.