Will Kohinoor be returned to India? No, the visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron said unequivocally on Wednesday.
Since Independence, there have been several requests for the return of the diamond whose exact worth is not calculated yet -- to what all Indians consider its home in India.
When Prannoy Roy on NDTV told David Cameron on Wednesday that it was besieged with queries and requests on the priceless jewel, the visiting prime minister said, "If you say yes to one you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I think I'm afraid to say, to disappoint all your viewers, it's going to have to stay put."
Not that India expected the Kohinoor to be given on a platter, but this time the country had reasons for hope.
Previous to Cameron's India tour, Keith Vaz, the Indian-origin British member of Parliament, also the Labour chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said the time had come to return the diamond to India as an atonement for its colonial past.
Vaz said the return of the treasure to India would give meaning to the new coalition government's desire to enter into a new era of partnership with India. "This will certainly convey a new age of Indo-British relations. The prime minister will certainly win the hearts of all Indians if he is prepared to discuss the display of the Kohinoor in India itself, and possibly even its permanent return."
The diamond was taken to England in 1849 after the defeat of the ruler of the Punjab region, Maharaja Duleep Singh, and the annexation of the Punjab. As part of the Treaty of Lahore settlement, the diamond was surrendered to Queen Victoria. It was last worn in public by the late queen mother and last seen set inside the Maltese Cross on the crown placed on top of the coffin at her funeral.
The latest demand to return it to India was made by the Archaeological Survey of India last month, which is also planning to join a campaign with the support of Unesco and other countries to regain lost artefacts and treasures.
Image: A woman displays a replica of the Kohinoor diamond in Kolkata.
Photograph: Reuters
