A letter to the Prime Minister’s Office by noted danseuse Padma Subrahmanyam set off meticulous research into the Sengol , which would lead to the installation of the golden sceptre in the new Parliament building when it is inaugurated on May 28.
Sources in the Culture Ministry said that Dr. Subrahmanyam had quoted an article in the Tamil magazine Thuglak which had carried details of the ceremony in 1947 when the Sengol was handed over to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The article had appeared in May 2021 and the noted dancer and researcher had requested the government to make this information public on the occasion of the Independence Day that year.
This set the tone for a relook at the historical event and a Culture Ministry team, assisted by experts from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), began the research into the reports.
