[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The senior SP leader launches a poker-faced critique of Adityanath government’s decision to exclude Taj Mahal from tourism brochure
Days after the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government drew flak for excluding the UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the ‘7 wonders of the world’ – Taj Mahal – from a new state tourism brochure, senior SP leader and former UP cabinet minister Azam Khan, on Wednesday, launched a satirical critique of the move.
The controversial leader, who is often makes headlines for his seemingly communal remarks and comments that can be seen as being hateful, said that he supports the UP tourism department’s move and that the 17th Century monument built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his fourth wife, Mumtaz Mahal, should in fact be “demolished” as it is “a symbol of slavery”.
Khan’s straight-faced comments went viral on the social media and many media channels went into overdrive claiming that the SP leader has in fact condoned the absurd move of the Yogi Adityanath government. However, a closer look at the entire video message by the SP veteran makes it clear that his poker-faced comments were in fact a sarcastic rebuke of the state government.[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI1NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIzMTUlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGQlM3UjF2Z2c5ZlElMjIlMjBmcmFtZWJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBhbGxvd2Z1bGxzY3JlZW4lM0UlM0MlMkZpZnJhbWUlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]Khan begins by hailing Adityanath as a deeply religious leader and goes on to suggest that the chief minister should actually shift the state’s capital and its administrative infrastructure, including the Vidhan Sabha, to the “sacred and religious” site of Gorakhpur – Adityanath’s pocket borough and seat of the Gorakhpur Peeth of which the chief minister is the presiding priest.
The SP leader then claims that not just Taj Mahal but other Mughal and British-era buildings like Delhi’s Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Parliament building and Rashtrapati Bhavan should all be demolished because “they are all symbols of slavery”.
Azam Khan also claims that India had “emerged as a namuna (one of a kind specimen)” in front of the world.
The political grapevine in UP suggests that the SP leader’s remarks could be stemming from the Adityanath government’s recent decision to demolish the Urdu Gate of Rampur’s Mohammad Ali Jauhar (MAJ) University.
The gate of the university is a personal favorite of the SP leader who is also a nine-term MLA from the Rampur constituency. Khan is in fact the founder and Chancellor of the MAJ University which was inaugurated by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2012 when his party was in power in the state.
The gate, built at an estimated cost of Rs 40 lakh, was dubbed as an “illegal encroachment” by the state’s public works department after the BJP came to power in UP earlier this year.
PWD superintendent engineer Sanjay Kumar Srivastava was quoted by Times of India as saying: “While constructing the gate, the university officials had not sought a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the PWD so the gate is an illegal encroachment over the road due to which public transport is badly affected. The state government has ordered to take appropriate action into the matter. We are examining the site and soon necessary steps will be taken.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]