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BJP holds protest at Sasaram to ‘free’ Ashoka inscription
The rock inscription of Mauryan emperor Ashoka at Chandan Hill (also called Ashik Pahari), three kilometres south of Sasaram town, was acquired by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and declared a nationally protected monument on December 1, 1917. It was allegedly encroached in 2005 by local Muslims, who have declared it a Mazar (shrine) and put a lock there.
eader of opposition in Bihar Legislative Council, Samrat Chaudhary, staged a sit-in at Sasaram on Saturday along with his supporters, demanding state government’s intervention in removing a 3rd century BCE Ashoka inscription that has been allegedly converted into a shrine by local Muslim community members.
The rock inscription of Mauryan emperor Ashoka at Chandan Hill (also called Ashik Pahari), three kilometres south of Sasaram town, was acquired by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and declared a nationally protected monument on December 1, 1917. It was allegedly encroached in 2005 by local Muslims, who have declared it a Mazar (shrine) and put a lock there.
ASI officials have said they have written several letters to Rohtas district administration to free the encroachment and hand over the site for conservation, to no avail.
“This government is working to erase our history with its appeasement policy. This inscription is encroached and you have to free it,” Chaudhary, BJP leader and a former minister, said while threatening a bigger movement if the government failed to act.
Party MLC Santosh Kumar Singh, former MLA Satya Narayan Yadav and district BJP president Sushil Kumar Chandravanshi were also among those present at the protest.
Later, Chaudhary met district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar and handed over a memorandum.
The said the memorandum would be sent to the state government.
