No decision on excavation at Qutub Minar

| | New Delhi
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No decision on excavation at Qutub Minar

Monday, 23 May 2022 | PTI | New Delhi

No decision on excavation at Qutub Minar

GK Reddy issued clarification after several media reports that excavation can be done in Delhi’s iconic Qutub Minar complex, surfaced recentlyUnion Culture Minister GK Reddy clarified on Sunday that no directions for excavation at Delhi’s iconic Qutub Minar complex had been issued by the Government. Asked if the Ministry of Culture had issued directions to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Reddy reportedly said, “No such decision has been taken.” The clarification came as media reports that the ASI is to conduct an excavation at the popular tourist site have been doing the rounds.

As in the Gyanvapi mosque row, the Qutub Minar controversy surfaced after the ASI’s former regional director Dharamveer Sharma claimed that the structure was constructed by Hindu king Raja Vikramaditya, and not Qutb al-Din Aibak as is believed. Earlier, there were protests and demands by several Hindu groups regarding the renaming of the Qutub Minar complex amid claims that the place was earlier used for Hindu and Jain temples.

As many as 44 members of two Right-wing groups were detained earlier this month after they recited the Hanuman Chalisa in front of the Qutub Minar complex and demanded it be renamed “Vishnu Stambh”.

Recently, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal also claimed that Qutub Minar was actually “Vishnu Stambh”. He said that the monument was built with materials obtained after demolishing 27 Hindu and Jain temples.

One Vishnu Shankar Jain had also filed a petition in Delhi’s Saket court demanding the reinstallation of idols of Hindu deities in the complex and rights to prayer at the site. The matter will be heard on May 24. The court had asked the Centre and ASI to file responses in the matter.

In this atmosphere, the rumours regarding the excavations were sparked off after Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Govind Mohan, visited the World Heritage monument on Saturday with three historians, four ASI officers and researchers. The ASI officials informed the Secretary that excavation work in the Qutub Minar complex had not been done since 1991.

Sources had earlier said that the Ministry of Culture had issued instructions to get iconography of idols done at the complex, and that excavation could be started at a distance of 15 meters from the mosque to the south of Qutub Minar. However, on Sunday, GK Reddy clarified that no such decision has been taken.

After Culture Secretary Govind Mohan visited the monument on Saturday, there were media reports that the ASI has been ordered to conduct excavations to ascertain whether Qutub was built by Qutubuddin Aibak or Chandragupta Vikramaditya. However, the Ministry insists that it was a regular site visit by its officials and no such decision has been taken so far.

 

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