Kohinoor Belongs To Lord Jagannath: Odisha Congress

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha unit of Congress has urged the state government to be an intervenor in the Supreme Court to bring back the Kohinoor from London and place it at Lord Jagannath temple.

Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prasad Harichandan said Kohinoor belongs to Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri as Maharaja Ranjit Singh had wished to offer the precious diamond to the 12th-century shrine.

He said Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab had expressed his desire to offer Kohinoor diamond to Lord Jagannath temple in Puri.

The British, however, took away the diamond from Ranjit Singh’s son, Duleep Singh, then a minor, in 1849, said Harichandan.

He said the wish of Ranjit Singh is known by a letter sent by the political agent and commissioner to Peshawar to the officiating secretary of the Indian government in July 1839.

The communique has been preserved at the National Archives in New Delhi.

The Congress has decided to launch a postcard campaign in the state writing letters to the President and the Prime Minister urging them to bring back the diamond back.

Meanwhile, the priests of Jagannath temple staged a demonstration before the shrine demanding to the return of the 105 carat Kohinoor that belongs to Lord Jagannath. It is now adorning the crown of the British monarch.