Express View on King Charles-Camilla coronation: The Kohinoor distraction

There is a phrase in Hindi that perhaps best describes the mild hypocrisy around Queen Consort Camilla’s decision not to wear the Kohinoor diamond at her coronation on May 6. “Aankh ki sharam” means, in essence, both parties in a given situation choose to ignore what’s right in front of them for the sake of propriety. Now, like a 40-year-old who pretends he doesn’t smoke in front of his elders, or the adult woman who tells her grandmother that wine is grape juice (and the latter plays along, of course), British royalty will pretend the symbol of its imperial power doesn’t exist.

Among the reported reasons for the reticence by unemployed people who live in palaces — for which, presumably, no inheritance tax was paid — is the desire to avoid controversy and perhaps even a diplomatic row. For members of the South Asian diaspora and even in political and government circles in India, the Kohinoor is a symbol of colonial loot and plunder. Like all virtue signalling, the decision to keep the $400-million Kohinoor hidden from view has little substance. But then, neither does the brouhaha over the diamond in the first place.

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Like so many symbols, the idea of the Kohinoor can serve as a distraction — hiding more than it reveals. It articulates the systemic — and sophisticated — economic exploitation of the “jewel of the Raj” with a crass idea of plunder. Imperialism robbed the Global South of industries, crafts, systems of trade. Its impact was so great that it is difficult today to imagine social and state formations, politics and identity, without referring to the colonial rupture. And, yes, it robbed some elites of a few jewels. It is easier, of course, to focus on things that glitter. A better argument, though, would be this: Wear the diamond, give back the rest.