44 workers of right-wing groups demanding the renaming of Qutub Minar detained

The demonstrators claim that the Qutub Minar was built by the "great king Vikramaditya", but later, Qutubuddin Aibak claimed credit for it.

The Delhi Police detained 44 members of the United Hindu Front and Rashtravadi Shiv Sena for allegedly holding a demonstration without permission at Qutub Minar on Tuesday demanding that the iconic monument be renamed "Vishnu Stambha". During the demonstration, the members of fringe right-wing groups also recited the Hanuman Chalisa outside the Qutub Minar complex. They also chanted "Jai Shri Ram" and displayed placards demanding the name change of the centuries-old monument, located in south Delhi's Mehrauli,

Police personnel detained members of right-wing organizations who were reciting Hanuman Chalisa outside Qutub Minar, demanding to rename the monument as 'Vishnu Stambh', in New Delhi. (Amit Sharma)

The demonstrators claim that the Qutub Minar was built by the "great king Vikramaditya", but later, Qutubuddin Aibak claimed credit for it. "There were 27 temples in the complex and those were destroyed by Aibak. Proof of all this is available as people can find idols of Hindu gods kept in the Qutub Minar complex. Our demand is that Qutub Minar should be called Vishnu Stambha," news agency PTI quoted Bhagwan Goyal, international working president of the United Hindu Front, as saying.

Goyal also claimed that idols are kept at different spots in the complex which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while demanding that they should be allowed to worship there.

Last month, a Delhi court had directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) not to remove two idols of Lord Ganesha from the Qutub Minar complex till further directions.