Indian ire at Queen Mother's funeral
By Luke Harding in New Delhi
India's former high commissioner in London yesterday criticised the Queen Mother's funeral, saying the decision to "flaunt" the Koh-i-Noor diamond during her final journey to Westminster Abbey was symptomatic of Britain's "old empire mentality".

Kuldip Nayar, an eminent Indian parliamentarian, said it was "unnecessary" to put the Queen Mother's crown - which has the 108-carat Koh-i-Noor in it - atop her coffin.
India has repeatedly alleged that the British "stole" the diamond in 1849 from its then eight-year-old owner, Dhalip Singh. London insists it was "legitimately acquired", a claim many Indians view as both patronising and untrue.

Mr Nayar said yesterday he bore the royal family no ill will. But he was baffled as to why the lord chamberlain, who organised the funeral, wanted to show off a symbol of colonial plunder. "The footage of the funeral seemed to flaunt at us a feeling of empire, and remind us that the UK was once ruling the world," he said. "Britain is always thinking it is a superior kind of nation."

His attack comes amid a sudden coolness between New Delhi and London after the leak of a highly critical report, compiled by British diplomats, on the riots in the state of Gujarat, which blamed India's ruling BJP party for the carnage. Some 2,000 have so far died in the unrest. Two days ago, India's prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said he did not need lectures from the "former colonial power".

Most historians say Britain has a weak claim on the Koh-i-Noor. After defeating the Sikhs in 1849, Britain's viceroy Lord Dalhousie annexed the Punjab and dictated surrender terms, including the handing over of the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria.
The diamond, which is part of the crown jewels, was fitted into the 1937 coronation crown. The death of the Queen Mother, India's last empress, provoked little comment among Indians. With the Raj a distant memory, most see the US rather than Britain as their role model.-
The Guardian, London

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