Congress terms BJP's 'Sengol' narrative as 'WhatsApp University' syllabus

The Congress on Friday charged that the BJP is relying on 'bogus' information usually forwarded on WhatsApp to suit its political objectives in Tamil Nadu.

New Delhi:Symbolic 'Sengol' has kicked up a major political storm with the Congress questioning the historicity being ascribed to and ridiculing it to be one of the ruling party's WhatsApp University syllabi. With Congress Communication chief Jairam Ramesh argued on Twitter that there is no documented evidence that suggests that Mountbatten, Rajaji or Nehru describing the 'Sengol' as a symbol of transfer of power from the colonial British empire to India.

Ramesh alleged that the new Parliament is being consecrated with typically 'false narratives' from 'WhatsApp University'. He attacked the BJP saying that they have been exposed again with 'Maximum Claims, Minimum Evidence'.

Ramesh said that a sceptre conceived of by a religious establishment in then Madras province and crafted in Madras city was presented to Jawaharlal Nehru in August 1947. However, to suggest that this sceptre represents the transfer of power from the British government to India is completely 'BOGUS'. Such a notion was manufactured in the minds of few among the ruling dispensation and and then dispersed into WhatsApp, he wrote in the twitter post citing a media report citing there was very little evidence on the 'transfer of power' claim.

However, now the idea has spread to the 'drum-beaters' of the saffron brigade in the media. The 'Sengol' is being used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his 'drum-beaters' for their political ends in Tamil Nadu. Such twisting of facts to suit ones interest is 'typical' of the saffron brigade, Ramesh added.

Ramesh pointed out that two of the finest Rajaji scholars have expressed their surprise about such history on 'transfer of power'. The Congress General Secretary said that the sceptre was kept for display at the Allahabad Museum. Nehru had delivered a speech there on December 14, 1947 which is a matter of public record. Ramesh also shared a media report pointing out these facts on Twitter and a screengrab of a book having Jawaharlal Nehru's speech at Allahabad in 1947.

Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari also shared his bit on India's post-independence history on Twitter. Though India became independent through the Indian Independence Act 1947, it was a British dominion then. George VI continued as Emperor of India till January 26, 1950, he said. In whatever little history I have perused strangely there is no mention or picture of Mountbatten handing over the 'Sengol' to Nehru, Tewari said.