Now Symbol of Love Comes under Attack: Yogi says Taj Mahal doesn’t reflect Indian culture
One knows that ‘The Taj’ is one amongst the World’s Wonders!
One knows that it is one amongst the UNESCO World Heritage Sites!!
One knows The Taj as a legend of eternal love of an Emperor for his favourite Queen!!!
The above descriptions are coming straight from the official website of Uttar Pradesh government but Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath doesn’t think that the iconic white marble architecture reflects “Indian culture”.
“Foreign dignitaries visiting the country used to be gifted replicas of the Taj Mahal and other minarets, which did not reflect Indian culture,” Adityanath said while he was addressing a rally in Darbhanga, Bihar on Thursday. Therefore, the Modi government, according to Yogi, brought about a change and began giving copies of the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayan to visiting foreign dignitaries.
This is not the first time that there has been controversy related to the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. In December last year, the government was dragged into a bizarre row over whether the Taj Mahal should be converted into a Hindu temple.
In fact two years back in 2015, a group of lawyers had gone to court claiming that the monument was originally an ancient shrine dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva. The debate somewhat subdued when Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said in Parliament that, “the government has not found any evidence which can suggest that Taj Mahal was a Hindu temple of Shiva.”
Interestingly while some have tried to appropriate the Taj Mahal as a Hindu structure, Yogi Adityanath doesn’t want it to be associated with India at all.