Thiruvavaduthurai Aadeenam said it is a “matter of pride” for Tamil Nadu that ‘Sengol’ (sceptre) will be installed in the new Parliament building.
Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Annamalai has hit out at the Congress after Thiruvavaduthurai Aadeenam Ambalavana Desika Paramacharya Swami claimed that Lord Mountbatten had given the Sengol, which will be presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, to India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947.
Reacting to the Congress’s allegation that there is no documented evidence of Mountbatten, Rajaji and Nehru describing this sceptre as a symbol of the transfer of British power to India, Ambalavana Desika Paramacharya Swami on Friday said the Sengol that was away from the gaze of people would now be prominently displayed in Parliament for the world to see. To a question by reporters in Chennai on any proof for the handover of the Sengol, the pontiff said there were evidence including photographs and reports that appeared in newspapers and magazines in 1947.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had claimed that there is “no documented evidence whatsoever of Mountbatten, Rajaji & Nehru describing this sceptre as a symbol of transfer of British power to India. All claims to this effect are plain and simple — BOGUS.”
“Wholly and completely manufactured in the minds of a few and dispersed into WhatsApp, and now to the drum-beaters in the media,” he alleged.
Annamalai alleged that what Ramesh did was take political discourse to a base level which only the Congress can do. It’s a recorded history. There is a jewellery shop in Chennai which made the Sengol, he claimed.
Annamalai also demanded an apology from the Congress for disrespecting the Sanatana Dharma.
“The Adheenam has spoken in the true spirit of what exactly happened in 1947. The Congress has to clarify why Sengol was marked as a walking stick in the museum. They must apologise to the Tamil Nadu people for disrespecting the Sanatana Dharma rather than getting into why Lord Mountbatten’s picture was not there. This is taking politics to a stupid level,” the Tamil Nadu BJP chief said amid the row.