Congress fires fresh salvo at BJP on 'Sengol' issue

Shubhadeep Choudhury                                                                                       

New Delhi, June 9

Firing a fresh salvo at the BJP on the ‘Sengol’ issue, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday reiterated that the “majestic Sengol” presented to Jawaharlal Nehru had nothing to do with the transfer of power at the time of the Independence in 1947.

Citing a report published in a Chennai-headquartered English daily, Ramesh wrote on Twitter, “So the BJP’s Fake Factory stands exposed today by none other than the revered head Swamigal of the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam himself. No Mountbatten, No Rajaji, No part in OFFICIAL transfer of power on August 14th 1947. But yes the majestic Sengol was indeed presented to Nehru as I have been saying all along.”

Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by referring to him as “today’s Raja”, Ramesh wrote, “Here are some more facts to nail the lies of today’s Raja and his drumbeaters.”

Ramesh wrote that Page 10 of the Chennai-based English daily dated August 29, 1947 carried an advertisement on the presentation of the golden sceptre (Sengol) to Nehru at 10pm on August 14, 1947 at his residence. “It was clearly an initiative of the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam itself,” Ramesh wrote.

“In the photo at the bottom the famed nagaswaram maestro T N Rajaratnam Pillai is marked as # 5. Here is what is said on him in an article on a website of the Union Ministry of Culture: ‘When India attained independence Rajaratnam was sent to Delhi by the Pandarasannadhi of the Tiruvaduturai Matam to present on his behalf a mace of solid gold senkol (symbol of righteous administration). Rajaratnam was thrilled by this proud privilege. It was Dr P Subbaroyan who introduced him to the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to whom Rajaratnam played the nagaswaram before handing over the mace’,” Ramesh wrote.

“There is no mention of Mountbatten or even Rajaji.  Rajaratnam Pillai is himself the subject of a fascinating new biography by an eminent Japanese ethnomusicologist in which the August 14, 1947 episode is mentioned,” Ramesh wrote.

A controversy erupted after the BJP claimed that a ‘Sengol’ presented to Nehru by Mountbatten at the advice of C Rajagopalachari as a symbol of transfer of power was kept at Anand Bhawan museum in Allahabad and described as “walking stick”.

The BJP alleged that this was yet another instance of disrespect shown by Nehru to a Hindu tradition.

The ‘Sengol’ has now been kept at the new Parliament building right next to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair.