LUCKNOW: The historic Sengol (sceptre), to be installed in the new Parliament building during its inauguration on May 28, was one of the prized possessions of the Nehru Gallery of the Allahabad Museum for over seven decades.
The Sengol, received by the country’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru as a symbol of the transfer of power from British rule to independent India in 1947, was shifted to Allahabad Museum in the latter half of 1950 along with a number of items gifted to Nehru at that time and was one of the highlights of the Nehru Gallery.
Initially, it was received by Allahabad Museum curator SC Kala. Museum authorities said the Sengol and other items gifted to Nehru were shifted from Anand Bhawan, the ancestral residence of India's first PM, to Allahabad Museum. According to officials of the Allahabad Museum, the decision to place the Sengol in the new Parliament building was taken last November when the Union Ministry of Culture had asked the Allahabad Museum authorities to hand over the Sengol to the National Museum, Delhi.
It was the last Governor General of India, C Rajagopalachari, who had suggested to Nehru to receive the sceptre as a symbol of India's freedom from British rule.
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Vice-Chancellor of Prof Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) State University, Prayagraj, Prof AK Singh, said he was the officiating director of the Allahabad National Museum in November 2022 when he got a letter from the Union Ministry of Culture saying that the Sengol be shifted to the National Museum, Delhi.
“We had signed an MoU with the National Museum, Delhi, before handing over the Sengol which was one of our prized collections, exhibited at the Nehru Gallery of the museum,” said director, Allahabad Museum, Rajesh Prasad.
Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari, a prominent historian and former head of department of Medieval and Modern History, Allahabad University, said that before the Sengol was moved from Allahabad Museum to the National Museum in New Delhi, he was asked to evaluate the historic piece as the shifting could not be carried out without transit insurance.
“Being priceless for all Indians, I valued it at Rs 10 crores and it was then shifted to the National Museum, Delhi,” said Prof Tiwari.
In fact, Prayagraj has been a witness to many such historical firsts. As per Prof Tiwari, it was in Prayagraj that the first rights of tax collection were accorded to the East India Company and later the transfer of power from the East India Company to British Crown was also done in the Sangam City.
