Demand to bring back Kohinoor diamond from Britain to India

International Desk: Odisha's socio-cultural organization Sri Jagannath Sena has demanded that the largest diamond in the Queen's crown of Britain, 'Kohinoor' be brought back to India. According to NDTV, they have called for the intervention of Indian President Draupadi Murmu for this. Sri Jagannath Sena claims that the Kohinoor diamond is the property of the ancient deity Jagannath of Odisha's Puri region. So it should be brought back to Puri temple from UK. A memorandum to this effect has been submitted to the President by Priya Darshan Patnaik, Convenor of Army Memorandum. Priya Darshan Patnaik claims that King Maha Ranjit Singh of Punjab donated the diamond to the Puri deity after winning a war against Nadir Shah of Afghanistan. However, a few years after Ranjit Singh died in 1839, the British wrested the Kohinoor from his son, Dalip Singh. Historian and researcher Anil Dhir said that the British knew that Hirati was bequeathed to the god Jagannath of Puri. Anil said, “King Ranjit Singh's will before his death stated that he bequeathed Kohinoor to Lord Jagannath. The document was also authenticated by a British Army officer. There is also evidence of this in the National Archives in Delhi.” Meanwhile, Patnaik claimed that he had given a letter to Queen Elizabeth II in 2016. He was later contacted by Buckingham Palace. The palace authorities asked him to appeal to the UK government in this regard. However, he could not apply to the UK government as his visa to visit the UK was cancelled. Earlier, Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Member of Parliament (MP) Bhupinder Singh had raised a proposal to bring back the Kohinoor diamond in the Rajya Sabha in 2016 as well. On the other hand, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles of Britain is now the King of Britain. So in keeping with tradition, the 105-carat diamond will now remain with Charles' wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla.