BJP MLA embarasses Yogi during UP CM’s maiden visit to Taj Mahal

A BJP MLA from Agra has said that Taj Mahal was built after demolishing a Shiva Temple that stood on the same spot. Agra North MLA Jagan Prasad Garg was among 500 BJP leaders accompanying Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on latter’s visit to the iconic marble monument on Thursday.

“Several historians believe that there was a Shiva temple at the same place where the Taj Mahal is located. Mughals first demolished the Shiva temple and then built the Taj Mahal. It is a fact,” he was quoted as saying at the Taj Mahal complex.

BJP leaders have of late been making provocative statements seen as undermining the historic significance of the Mughal-era structure.

Yogi’s visit was seen by many as a damage control exercise after a series of controversies erupted, beginning with a UP tourism department booklet not mentioning the white marble monument in its list of development projects in the state.

Subsequently, BJP MLA Sangeet Som called Taj Mahal a "blot on Indian history" and BJP MP Vinay Katiyar said it was originally a Shiva temple.

Adityanath, however, has been seen as toning down his rhetoric on Taj Mahal, after having said at a rally in Bihar last year that Taj Mahal didn’t belong to Indian culture.

Addressing a rally in Gorakhpur recently, Adityanath called Taj Mahal the "pride of India" and referred to it as a "world class monument".

The chief minister has declared that the state government will spend Rs 370 crore on development plans aimed at promoting tourism in the city of Taj.

Adityanath, the first BJP chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to visit the Taj Mahal, entered from the western gate where he swept the road along with senior leaders. Donning a mask, wearing yellow gloves and wielding a broom, Adityanath swept a parking area, in an apparent bid to promote the Swachh Bharat mission.

Over 14,000 policemen were deployed across the city for the security of Adityanath, who arrived here early this morning.

Along with the visit to the Taj Mahal, built by Shahjahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, Adityanath will inaugurate various development projects in Agra, according to an official spokesperson.

"During his tour of Agra.., the chief minister will be visiting all the places inside Taj Mahal," principal secretary, tourism, Awanish Awasthi said yesterday.

The last time a UP chief minister visited the Taj was Akhilesh Yadav, more than two years ago.

Adityanath, who landed in the city’s Kheria Airport, earlier went to Nangla Paima village and visited a rubber check dam. He also visited Kachhpura village.

(with PTI inputs)