Even as sources in the Archaeological Survey of India say there is no legal provision to bring the Kohinoor back and a call on the diamond has to be taken at a political level, the Centre is ready to discuss the issue in Parliament.
Noted historian Irfan Habib, too, shared ASI's views and claimed that the government was not consistent on its stand.
"ASI, it seems, is right, because legally you cannot do anything about it. And the government has been doing flipflops since yesterday. Like the government maintained that Kohinoor was a gift. Then the government came out and said some thing else. And today, ASI said something else," Habib said.
"These three stands make it very clear that we have no clue to the problem, whether Ranjeet Singh's successors gave it or they were forced by the British to do it. So you cannot really say that it was really a gift. But anyway, the British heir meant it to be a gift. So you can't really do much about it now. It's a totally political issue," he said.
With the controversy on Kohinoor diamond snowballing into a major issue, the government made a u-turn just a day after telling the Supreme Court that Kohinoor was not stolen from the India but was actually given to the British as a gift.
The development follows a contradiction by its ideological fountain head RSS which claimed that Kohinoor diamond is India’s asset and should remain with India.
“RSS gave a statement yesterday that they don’t agree with government’s position on Kohinoor. RSS wants the government to pursue efforts to get Kohinoor back. Today, the government did exactly the same thing. This means the government’s sincerity is a little doubtful on the issue," Irfan Habib had said on Tuesday.
The UK government had on several occasions ruled out handing back the 105-carat Kohinoor which is on display at the Tower of London.
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