‘Raja ka danda or Constitution?’ Akhilesh Yadav's SP questions relevance of ‘sengol’ in Lok Sabha; BJP responds

The installation of ‘sengol’ adjacent to the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair has become a hot topic of discussion during this Parliament session, with opposition MPs advocating its replacement by a copy of the Indian Constitution.

Samajwadi Party MP from Mohanlalganj, RK Chaudhary, in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, questioned the relevance of ‘sengol’ (a handcrafted, gold-plated sceptre about 5 feet long) in a democracy.

“The Constitution is the symbol of democracy. In its previous tenure, the BJP govt, under the leadership of PM Modi, installed 'Sengol' in Parliament. 'Sengol' means ‘Raj-Dand’,” the SP leader told ANI.

“It also means 'Raja ka Danda'. After ending the princely order, the country became independent. Will the country be run by 'Raja ka danda' or the Constitution? I demand that Sengol be removed from Parliament to save the Constitution,” he added.

Asked about Chaurdhary's remark, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav told media that his party leader wanted to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi about bowing to ‘sengol’, which he did while installing in the lower house.

“When 'sengol' was installed, the Prime Minister had bowed to it. But he forgot to bow while taking oath this time. I think our MP wanted to remind the Prime Minister about it,” Yadav said.

The Opposition's 'sengol' strategy unfolds alongside the INDIA bloc's focus on the Constitution to challenge the third Narendra Modi government. Throughout this session, the Constitution has been prominently displayed at Opposition meetings.

On the opening day, senior INDIA leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Akhilesh Yadav led a protest within Parliament grounds, brandishing copies of the Constitution. INDIA MPs, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, also carried copies of the Constitution during their oath-taking ceremony.

Responding to Samajwadi Party's remark on ‘sengol’, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “They opposed Sengol in Parliament. It says that it is 'Raja ka Dand', if it was 'Raja ka Dand', why did Jawaharlal Nehru accept the Sengol?”

“First, they attack and abuse Ramcharitmanas, now Sengol, which is part of Indian and Tamil culture. Does DMK support this kind of insult of Sengol, they must clarify. The question is that the mindset to reduce Sengol to a walking stick for decades has once again come in the form of Samajwadi Party,” he said.

Last year, a political debate took pleace between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress over the claims that ‘Sengol’ was a symbol of the transfer of power from the British to the Indians in 1947.