NEW PARLIAMENT & THE MANY DISCUSSIONS

So much had been written and discussed ad nauseum about the new parliament building for India which was inaguarated by the PM last week, and there is no point in elaborating on that again. Let us look at the other aspect of the parliament building opened amid so much fanfare and installation of a sceptre next to the speaker's chair in the Lok Sabha in the new parliament building.

in the days leading to the Indian independence in 1947, the British were discussing why they had to hand over the power to the then congress party as they had taken over from different regional satraps and kings.  This was conveyed by the British government to the then Governor General Lord Louis Mountbatten who was spearheading the handing over of the power to the Indian people.   The congress party went into a huddle on this unexpected turn of events just before the freedom and discussed the matter threadbare in their meeting. Finally, it was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who broke the imbroglio suggesting within a period of 18 months, the princely states would be absorbed into the Indian Union and the erstwhile princes and kings would agree for the new government at Delhi headed by the congress party.  This lead to the signing of the instrument of accession by the erstwhile princely states with the Indian Union.  Some of the erstwhile princes and kings were made Rajpramukhs, in the states in which their princesly states were absorbed into, a precursor to the present day Goevrnor.  

Be that as it may, one more problem was flagged by the British government from London as to the modus operandi of handing over power to the Indian Nationa Congress. This was conveyed by the Governor General to the leader of INC, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had been elected as the leader of the INC at the behest of M K Gandhi. As Nehru, wih his lofty European ideas and ideals, did not have much idea about the Indian ethos and transfer of power and handing over to the next person, he consulted the erudite Rajaji who was not just a scholar advocate but had a deep understanding of the Indian culture and ethos.  Rajaji, in turn consulted the Acharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Matam who directed him to discuss with the Adheenam head of Thiruvavaduthurai, near Mayuram in Tamilnadu as his predecessors were involved in transfer of power from one to another during the Chozha rule in Tamil Nadu.  To cut the long story short, Rajaji and the Adheenam representative got a sceptre made at a jeweller in Madras (present day Chennai) and took that to the Delhi in a special plane.  This was made in the same pattern of the many Sengol that are still used in many Shivite temples.  The sceptre made at Madras was handed over to the Viceroy on the evening of August 14th 1947 by the Adheenam representative who in turn gave it back to the Adheenam representative to hand it ove to the elected leader of INC, J Nehru.  A little later than midnight of August 14/15, 1947, as determined by the astrologers, the sceptre was handed over to J Nehru in his home by the Adheenam representative, after taking it in a procession from the viceregal palace (today's Rashtrapathi Bhavan) accompanied by chanting of the Thamizh Thirumurai and the Nagaswaram played by the eminent T N Rajarathinam Pillai.   J Nehru, hoisted the Indian National flag amid chants of Vande Matharam and Bharath Mata Ki Jai and delivered his famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech.  The national and international media (only print media) covered these events that happened in Delhi as transfer of power on granting of freedom to India and wrote extensively on them.

The Sceptre called Sengol in Thamizh was handed over by the Earl of Mountbatten as the last British Governor General in a symbolic transfer of power to the people of India to J Nehru (through an Adheenam representative - who was in the position of a Rajguru).  But the the first prime minister, appropriated this symbol of transfer of power as his own and kept with his personal belongings in his Allahabad(present day Prayagraj) house Ananda Bhavan. From there, some time in 1970s, it went to the state museum of UP and Allahabad.  The people who transferred that to the state museum or who received it did not know the significance of this sceptre and instead categorized it as a golden walking stick donated by Mountbatten to J Nehru. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was silent all along as it suited them to keep it under wraps.  

Thanks to the efforts of a celebrated danseuse Dr. Padma Subramaniyam, who visited Prayagraj Museum and saw the sceptre kept in display as a walking stick gifted to J Nehru, the prime minister of the day became aware of this significant symbol of transfer of power from British to Indian people, and restored the sceptre to its rightful place in the place next to the speaker's seat in the Lok Sabha of the new parliament building.  However, as is its wont, the GOP and its leaders who are ever ready to please the first family, questioned the historical significance of the sceptre and dismissed the same claiming that there is no official record of the same in the government archives.  However, the sceptre which is a mark of transfer of power from British to Indian people is now at the place where it belongs and not relegated to a dusty cage in a museum as in the past.  

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