A Samajwadi Party (SP) MP has demanded that the sengol, a historic sceptre installed next to the Speaker’s chair in Lok Sabha, be replaced with the Constitution, triggering outrage from the BJP and other NDA allies.

As the Opposition MPs questioned the sengol’s relevance in a democracy, the BJP accused them of disrespecting Indian culture.

The sengol, a handcrafted, gold-plated sceptre about 5-feet long, was installed in the Lok Sabha last year. Home Minister Amit Shah at the time said it was an attempt to link our cultural traditions with our modernity.

“We want the administration to run by the rule of law, and this will always remind us of that,” he said.

In a letter to Speaker Om Birla, Samajwadi Party MP RK Chaudhary, MP from Mohanlalganj and a former UP minister, said that the sengol must be replaced by a copy of the Constitution to “save democracy”.

“The adoption of the Constitution marked the beginning of democracy in the country, and the Constitution is its symbol. The BJP government in its last term installed ‘sengol’ next to the Speaker’s chair. Sengol is a Tamil word that means sceptre. Rajdand also means the king’s stick. We have become independent after the age of kings. Now, every man and woman who is an eligible voter chooses the government to run this country. So will the country run by Constitution or by a king’s stick?” he told reporters.

Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party became the third-largest party in this Lok Sabha, winning 37 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav said, “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.”

Chaudhary’s demand was also backed by Senior Congress leader and MP B Manickam Tagore. “We have been very clear that the sengol symbolises kingship and the kingdom-era is over. We should celebrate the people’s democracy and the Constitution,” he told NDTV.

RJD MP and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Misa Bharti echoed “whosoever has demanded this, I welcome it.”

The BJP has hit back saying the Samajwadi Party earlier attacked and abused Ramcharitmanas and now sengol, which is part of Indian culture and particularly Tamil culture. “It’s an insult to Tamil Nadu. The DMK must clarify if they support this insult of sengol,” party leaders said.

The sengol was handed to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a symbol of the transfer of power from the British to Indians.

“If it was a symbol of monarchy, then why did the first Prime Minister Nehru accept it? Was he accepting that symbol and monarchy,” said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla.