By placing 'Sengol' in LS, India affirming sovereignty resides there and not with any monarchs: Tharoor

New Delhi, May 28

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday kept his views on the historic 'Sengol', saying by placing it in the Lok Sabha, India is affirming that sovereignty resides there and not with any monarch.

In a tweet, Tharoor, amid the controversy of placing 'Sengol' in the new Parliament House by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "My own view on the sengol controversy is that both sides have good arguments. The government rightly argues that the sceptre reflects a continuity of tradition by embodying sanctified sovereignty and the rule of dharma. The Opposition rightly argues that the Constitution was adopted in the name of the people and that sovereignty abides in the people of India as represented in their Parliament, and is not a kingly privilege handed down by divine right."

"The two positions are reconcilable if one simply drops the debatable red herring about the sceptre having been handed to (first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal) Nehru by (Lord) Mountbatten to symbolise the transfer of power, a story for which there is no proof. Instead we should simply say that the sengol sceptre is a traditional symbol of power and authority, and by placing it in the Lok Sabha, India is affirming that sovereignty resides there and not with any monarch. Let us embrace this symbol from the past to affirm the values of our present," the Congress Lok Sabha MP said.

His remarks came after the Prime Minister on Sunday inaugurated the new Parliament House and also placed the 'Sengol' near the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair in the chamber.

Twenty Opposition parties, including the Congress, have boycotted the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament House accusing the BJP of not inviting President Droupadi Murmu and citing it as an insult to the first tribal President of the country.