India has changed its mind. A day after stating that ‘Kohinoor was gifted to British’ in India’s apex court, the Indian government changed track on Tuesday evening and now wants to make an effort ‘to make all possible efforts to bring back the Kohinoor Diamond in an amicable manner’.
The Economic Times reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now stepped in after which a marathon meetings were held on late Tuesday evening between officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Culture Ministry and the Archeological Survey of India.
India’s Culture ministry issued a statement on Tuesday evening saying that "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".
Efforts are now being made to prepare a draft action plan which will examine all possibilities of bringing back the famed diamond back to India from the UK museum.
India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru being targeted for the failure of bringing the Kohinoor back
The newspaper reports that the Solicitor General’s statement on Kohinoor diamond in Supreme Court was derived from India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s statements.
"Pandit Nehru went on record saying that there is no ground to claim this art treasure back. He also added that efforts to get the Kohinoor back would lead to difficulties,” the statement from Culture Ministry read.
Culture Ministry’s statement further pointed out how the Modi government had succeeded in in bringing ‘three significant pieces of India’s history back home’ without ‘these gestures affecting India’s relations with either Canada, Germany or Australia.’
In October 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned a 10th century Indian statue of Goddess Durga that was stolen in 1990 and found in 2012 at a museum in Germany.
In April 2015, then Canadian PM Stephen Harper returned a sculpture known as 'Parrot Lady', which dates back to 900 years.
Canada returns Indian heritage piece -"Parrot Lady"PM @narendramodi receives sandstone sculpture from Khajuraho. pic.twitter.com/WNNmSWO7BB— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) April 15, 2015
Then Australian PM Tony Abbott, on his India visit in 2014 had returned antique statues of Hindu deities that were in Australian art galleries.
