NYC mayor Mamdani urges King Charles to return Koh-i-Noor diamond to India
Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla interact with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a visit to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City on April 29, 2026. — Reuters pic
Thursday, 30 Apr 2026 9:03 AM MYT
NEW YORK, April 3000 — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Wednesday he encourages Britain’s King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, with his comments coming during the British monarch’s ongoing US visit.
“If I were to speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond,” Mamdani, who is Indian American, said when asked at a press conference hours before a ceremony that commemorated victims of the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks.
Later in the day, the king spoke with Mamdani at the ceremony. Buckingham Palace declined to comment. Mamdani’s office did not respond to a request to comment on whether Mamdani brought up the issue with the king.
India has previously repeatedly demanded that Britain return the 105-carat diamond.
Britain’s then colonial governor-general of India arranged for the huge diamond to be presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 after the East India Company had annexed the region of Punjab in 1849 and taken the diamond from a deposed Indian leader.
Charles on Wednesday commemorated victims of the September 11, 2001, attack on New York City, laying a floral bouquet at the memorial where the World Trade Center’s twin towers once stood.
India received independence from British rule in 1947. The British colonisation of India and widespread atrocities committed against Indians during that period remain sensitive issues in the country.
India has previously said the diamond was a “valued piece of art with strong roots in our nation’s history.” The diamond’s possession by the British is seen by many Indians as a symbol of colonial atrocities during British rule.
The diamond has been previously owned by India’s Mughal emperors, shahs of Iran, emirs of Afghanistan, and Sikh maharajas, according to the Historic Royal Palaces charity. — AFP
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... and also the Parthenon Sculptures (Elgin Marbles) to Greece and the Rosetta Stone to Egypt.
Parthenon Sculptures
Mamdani is too young to remember......
ReplyDeleteBritain has provided billions in aid to India since 1948, with focused bilateral aid exceeding £2.7 billion between 2009 and 2024 alone. While high in previous decades, aid has shifted since 2015 from traditional grants to technical assistance, investments, and climate-focused funding.......
Even to Mamdani's Country of Birth Uganda....
Britain has been a major, long-term donor to Uganda, with aid focusing on poverty reduction, health, education, and humanitarian relief, particularly in the north. A significant 10-year development partnership (2007–2017) committed roughly £700 million, with ongoing support for refugees and climate-smart agriculture.
Key aspects of Britain's historical aid to Uganda:
Long-Term Commitments: In 2007, the UK announced a 10-year, £700 million partnership through the Department for International Development (DFID) to support poverty reduction and strengthening human rights.
Key Sectors: Aid has heavily funded health and education services. A 2011 package of £390 million aimed to expand these services and tackle extreme poverty.
Humanitarian Focus: Significant funding has been directed to northern Uganda for recovery from conflict, with, for example, £15 million aimed at humanitarian needs in that region in 2007.
Modern Initiatives: Current efforts, such as the Climate Smart Jobs (CSJ) program (2021–2026), focus on agribusiness and economic growth, with approximately £39 million allocated to create jobs and improve climate resilience.
Refugee Support: The UK has provided substantial support for refugee and host communities through programmes such as Building Resilience and an Effective Emergency Refugee Response (BRAER), with a total value of £210 million (2018–2024).
Oooop… mfer, do u play zero sum game?
DeleteUsing that principle the lode of treasures, minerals, labor exploitations that rampassed from the A3 by the pommie throughout the colonial period far far exceeding whatsoever superficial mfering 'deeds' that the pommie has 'bestowed' upon the A3, land & people combined!
The Rosetta Stone would have been little more than useless , deteriorating blocks of granite in Egypt, probably end up utilised for building house walls or gravestones.
ReplyDeleteIf not for the painstaking intellectual effort put in by English and French scholars to uncover the code that it contained to decipher their link to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and classical Greek.