Hillary Clinton spends time in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves of Ellora, calls them ‘extraordinary’

Aurangabad, February 8

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday spent nearly two and a half hours at Maharashtra’s Ellora Caves, a UNESCO world heritage centre, and called the cave complex an “extraordinary historic site” in her remarks in the visitors’ book, an official told PTI.

Clinton was on a two-day tour of Aurangabad city. She reached here on Tuesday afternoon and left for Khultabad town for an overnight stay.

“Clinton reached the world heritage site of Ellora Caves around 10.30 am and was there for nearly two and a half hours. She visited the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves of Ellora. She went to cave no. 10 (Buddhist), 16 (Kailash-Hindu), 32 and 34 (Indrasabha-Jain),” said Conservation Assistant Rajesh Waklekar.

After her visit, Clinton wrote in the visitors’ book “What an extraordinary historic site. Thank you for sharing it with me and the world” said the official.

On Monday, Clinton announced a Global Climate Resilience Fund of 50 million dollars for women to fight climate change in association with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) founded by late activist Ela Bhatt.

The fund will empower women and communities to fight climate change and help provide new livelihood resources and education, she said.

She attended a programme in Ahmedabad on Sunday to mark 50 years of SEWA as a trade union and paid homage to its founder and renowned social activist Ela Bhatt, who passed away in November last year.

Clinton visited salt pan workers in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat on Monday and learnt from them the process of salt production and the hardships faced by them.