Bring back illegally taken Bharatiya idols and artefacts
Bharatiya Janata Party · Lok Sabha General Election 2024
Last updated 9 Jul 2026
What does this status mean?
A continuing commitment is being implemented and needs ongoing monitoring.
Status describes delivery. Confidence describes how strong the available evidence is.
Original manifesto wording
“We will relentlessly work towards bringing back Bharatiya idols and artefacts that were taken away illegally from Bharat.”
Our Assessment
The promise was to keep working to bring back Bharatiya idols and artefacts taken illegally from India. Official Ministry of Culture evidence reports that 655 antiquities had been retrieved till 2025, including 613 cultural artefacts retrieved in the last five years. The same reply says some objects with clear provenance have been handed to institutions, some were loaned for display, and remaining objects are kept with ASI in safe custody. This is best treated as ongoing because the promise is continuing in nature and official evidence shows the repatriation effort is active, but the universe of illegally removed artefacts is not closed or fully recovered. Budget: no dedicated budget allocation or utilisation line for artefact repatriation was found; this appears to be mainly diplomatic, legal, provenance and custody work using existing institutional capacity, so budgetAllocated is false.
Sources & Evidence
Ministry of Culture — retrieval of antiquities and stolen artefacts (Culture)
Year End Review 2024: Ministry of Culture antiquities repatriation progress
Ministry of Culture reply: 655 antiquities retrieved till 2025
Promise Timeline
Government reported that 655 antiquities had been retrieved till 2025 and 613 cultural artefacts had been retrieved in the last five years.
View sourceMinistry of Culture year-end review reported 358 antiquities repatriated as on date, including 345 since 2014, with 297 more antiquities in the process of shifting from the USA to India.
View sourceRelated Promises
Launch a global outreach to document and promote the legacy of Lord Ram
Collaborate globally to restore and revitalise Bharatiya civilizational sites

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