'Qutab Minar is actually Vishnu Stambh': VHP claims monument was built to tease Hindus

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal on Sunday claimed that Qutab Minar is actually "Vishnu Stambh" built with materials obtained after demolishing 27 Hindu-Jain temples. He alleged that the superimposed structure was built 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," Bansal said.

He added, "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."

Bansal's statement comes a day after the VHP team, including him, on Saturday visited the monument and demanded that the government rebuild the ancient temples at the Qutub Minar complex and allow the resumption of Hindu rituals and prayers there. 

NMA chairman says Ganesha idols disrespectfully placed in Qutub Minar complex

On Thursday, National Monument Authority (NMA) chairman and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tarun Vijay said that Lord Ganesha's idols were placed "disrespectfully" in the Qutub Minar complex.

"The idols are currently placed at the most disrespectful place, upside down at the feet level of visitors. The idols should either be removed or placed respectfully inside the Qutub complex," he had told PTI.

According to the Delhi Tourism website, the 73-metre high Qutab Minar was built with materials obtained after demolishing 27 Hindu temples at the site after the defeat of Delhi's last Hindu kingdom.

The website states: "An inscription over its (Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque) eastern gate provocatively informs that it was built with material obtained from demolishing '27 Hindu temples."

Qutab-ud-din Aibak, the first Muslim ruler of Delhi, commenced the construction of the Qutab Minar in 1200 AD but could only finish the basement. His successor, Iltutmush, added three more storeys, and in 1368, Firoz Shah Tughlak constructed the fifth and the last storey, according to the website.