Theft of art biggest crime, says Meenakshi Lekhi at event to hand over stolen antiquities to Tamil Nadu

As the event progressed, Lekhi said, "Theft of art [and culture] is the biggest crime and usually, people steal these idols to sell them for what they are worth in the black market."

The Union Minister said that idols should only be looked at as the embodiment of God and not money fetching objects.

Six of the 10 masterpieces handed over to Tamil Nadu have been returned by the U.S and the rest by Australia.The entire tenure to make this a possibility was one year.

While lauding the Centre's efforts to bring back stolen idols, Union Culture and Tourism Minister G Kishen Reddy said, "During the visit of our Hon'ble Prime Minister to the USA, 157 antiquities were returned to India which makes it the largest single collection India got back so far.

"Over the last eight years the Government has brought back 228 heritage objects."

The idols retrieved which belong to the South Indian state will be placed under the protection of Idol Wing CID in Tamil Nadu. Any idol worth five lakh or above in Tamil Nadu is handed over to them.

Last year, the Idol Wing CID of Tamil Nadu was able to recover 138 idols.

Focusing on the scale and speed regarding the return of antiquites to India, Union Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal said, "Under the administration of Narendra Modi, over 200 antiquites have been returned back to India and before that period only 13 such pieces of history were brought back."

The collection of historical pieces returned to the Tamil Nadu government included Nataraja, a depiction of Shiva on a lotus pedestal dated back to 11-12 century CE, Parvati, the Chola period sculpture, and Dvarapala, idol of Door Guardian belonging to Vijayanagar dynasty and datable back to 15-16 century.

(Reporting by Nitin Waghela)