Qutub Minar is actually ‘Vishnu Stambh’: Vishwa Hindu Parishad spokesperson

Qutub Minar was built with materials from 27 demolished Hindu-Jain temples, says Vinod Bansal

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal on Sunday claimed that Delhi’s famous monument, the Qutub Minar, is actually the ‘Vishnu Stambh’. This comes a day after the VHP demanded that the government rebuild the Hindu structures in the Qutub Minar complex.

Mr. Bansal also said that the structure was built with materials obtained after demolishing 27 Hindu-Jain temples, and that had been done to “tease” the Hindu community.

“Qutab Minar was actually ‘Vishnu Stambh’. Qutub Minar was built with materials obtained after demolishing 27 Hindu-Jain temples. The superimposed structure was built just to tease the Hindu community,” Mr. Bansal said, adding that evidence of it being so was scattered across the Qutub Minar campus. “It is alarming to see broken idols and inscriptions that attest to the fact that this was a complex of Hindu-Jain temples,” he told The Hindu.

VHP leaders, including Mr. Bansal, visited the compound of the monument, which was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.

“We demand that all the 27 temples, which were demolished at the site in the past, be rebuilt and Hindus be allowed to offer prayers there,” Mr. Bansal said.

The building of the Qutub Minar, a tower with carvings and detailing, possibly one of the most visited monuments in Delhi, was in 1199 by Qutubuddin Aibak and finished by his successor Shamsuddin Iltutmish, and stands 72.5 metres in height.