New Delhi: The National Museums Authority (NMA) has asked the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to remove two Ganesha idols that are in the Qutub Minar complex, and find a place for them instead in the National Museum. The “placement of the idols [in the Qutub Minar complex] is disrespectful”, the NMA chairman has said, according to the Indian Express.
A letter on this was sent to ASI last month, the newspaper reported, with the NMA saying that the idols should be given a “respectable” place in the museum, which also houses other such antiquities.
The NMA and ASI both operate under the Union Ministry of Culture.
The current head of the NMA is Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tarun Vijay. He confirmed to the Indian Express that a letter had been sent to the ASI. “I visited the site several times and realised that the placement of the idols is disrespectful. They come near the feet of the mosque visitors,” he said.
“After Independence, we removed the statues of British kings and queens from India Gate, and changed the names of roads to erase marks of colonialism. Now we should work to reverse the cultural genocide that Hindus faced at the hands of Mughal rulers,” Vijay said.
“These idols were taken, apart from those of Jain Tirthankaras and Yamuna, Dashavatar, Navagrahas, after demolishing 27 Jain and Hindu temples built by King Anangpal Tomar… The way these idols have been placed is a mark of contempt for India, and needs correction,” Vijay said.
There are two idols of Ganesha in the Quwwat Ul Islam mosque, housed within the Qutub Minar complex. One of them, the ‘Ulta Ganesh’, is part of the mosque’s south-facing mosque. The other one, within an iron cage, is close to the ground in the same mosque, according to the Indian Express.
This article first appeared on thewire.in