'Why does Congress hate Indian culture?' Amit Shah on Sengol row

Amid the war of words between the ruling and opposition over the inauguration of the new Parliament, Shah said the Congress needs to reflect on its behaviour.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday slammed the Congress party for claiming that there is no documented evidence of "Sengol" being described as a symbol of the transfer of British power to India. Slamming the Grand Old Party, Shah said that Congress banished the sceptre to a museum as a 'walking stick'.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (Amit Shah Twitter)

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In a series of tweets, the minsiter questioned, "Why does the Congress party hate Indian traditions and culture so much? A sacred Sengol was given to Pandit Nehru by a holy Saivite Mutt from Tamil Nadu to symbolize India’s freedom but it was banished to a museum as a walking stick."

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Shah even asked the party to reflect on their behaviour. "Now, Congress has heaped another shameful insult. The Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, a holy Saivite Mutt, itself spoke about the importance of the Sengol at the time of India’s freedom. Congress is calling the Adheenam’s history as BOGUS! Congress needs to reflect on their behaviour," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that there is 'no documented evidence' confirming the Tamil artifact as a symbol of the transfer of power from the British to the first elected government of independent India.

Read here: ‘No proof’: Jairam Ramesh's attack on Modi government over ‘Sengol’ claims

He further claimed that the sceptre conceived of by a religious establishment in the Madras province and crafted in Madras city (now Chennai) was indeed presented to Nehru in August 1947. He further alleged that PM Modi and his drum-beaters are using the ceremonial sceptre for their political ends in Tamil Nadu.

The sceptre, which was given to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 to symbolise the transfer of power from the British to India, will now be placed in the new Parliament complex near the Lok Sabha speaker's chair after the former would be inaugurated by PM Modi on Sunday.