PM meets Adheenams, handed over 5ft Sengol

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a 5-ft-long ceremonial sceptre from 21 religious leaders, which is to be installed near the Speaker?s seat in the new Parliament. The sceptre, known as the ?Sengol? and made of gold and silver, has been the subject of controversy, with the Congress party questioning the government?s assertion that it was used to symbolise the transfer of power at the moment of India?s Independence. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed the allegation.

The “Sengol” is getting its deserved place in the temple of democracy, after being left as a “walking stick” at a museum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, after meeting 21 religious leaders (Adheenams) who handed him the a 5-ft-long ceremonial sceptre, a day before it is to be installed near the Speaker’s seat in the new Parliament.

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The Adheenams will be involved during the inauguration of the new Parliament complex on Sunday morning and flew in to Delhi from Chennai on Saturday.

“The holy Sengol did not get the respect it deserved and was left in Anand Bhavan in Prayagraj, where it was exhibited as a walking stick. It is the present government that brought the Sengol out of Anand Bhavan,” Modi said after the meeting.

“It (the Sengol) is getting its deserved place in the temple of democracy,” he added.

Made of gold and silver, the Sengol has emerged as the protagonist of a raging political controversy. The Congress, which is one of 21 parties that have said it will boycott the inauguration of the Parliament complex, questioned the government’s assertion that it was used to symbolise the transfer of power at the moment of India’s Independence.

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the allegation, saying the party “disliked Indian culture”.

Highlighting the role of Tamil Nadu in the freedom struggle, he said the southern state has been a bastion of Indian nationalism in every era.

“Despite this, it is unfortunate that the Tamil people were not given the importance they should have been given during India’s independence. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started raising this issue prominently,” he said.