Diamonds Are Not Forever: Historical reparations, like the return of the Kohinoor, can be complicated

The more exclusive and scarce an object, the greater its value. The Kohinoor diamond is one step above that because it has been an obsession for Indians—both as a symbol of how wealthy the country once was and how it was looted. In that one shining gem glitters the story of colonialism.

 Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York who is of In­dian descent, said he would encourage King Charles, who is on a visit to the US, to return the Kohinoor diamond to India if he were to meet him. It is a sound bite that will resonate with Indians but one wouldn’t bet on the king going back home and sending the Kohinoor by courier to Rashtrapati Bhavan. For one, it is not even certain if he has the power to do so. And if he did, why stop at the Kohinoor? Once the principle is established, then the UK would have to return everything it took from its colonies. And then why wouldn’t they also demand the return of the things they did in the colonies? Ask for the gargoyles of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Ter­minus, for instance.

Historical reparations can be tricky. India is not the only one staking claim to the Kohinoor. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan say that they are entitled to it. And why should it belong to a country when the original owner was a king somewhere in Andhra Pradesh and why shouldn’t that family, if it can be traced, have it? What gives govern­ments automatic right over diamonds? Or why shouldn’t the Andhra government have it instead of the Centre?

It is hard to get history corrected to everyone’s satisfac­tion. In the US, for example, there is now a demand for reparations for slavery, which would amount to trillions of dollars and go to those who are as free as anyone else. Applying the logic to India would mean reparations for thousands of years of caste discrimination, an impossibil­ity given how complex the system was. Returning the Ko­hinoor will be a good gesture but to really correct history one will have to time travel, and that is just not possible.