[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The controversial MP from Kanpur known for his hate speeches against Muslims says Mughals destroyed the temple to build a mausoleum

It appears that even Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s intervention to contain the growing embarrassment for his party being caused by its leaders making controversial statements over the Taj Mahal have had no effect on his party’s loudmouthed colleague.

A day after Adityanath asserted that the Taj Mahal’s past was irrelevant and what mattered was that the stunning marble mausoleum was built by the “blood and sweat of the sons of Bharat Mata”, controversial BJP MP from Kanpur, Vinay Katiyar reignited the row over the 17^th Century Mughal monument by claiming that it “is a Hindu Temple” which once housed a Shivling that was removed by the Mughals when they converted the structure into a mausoleum.[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]A Hindutva hardliner Katiyar is known for his hate speeches directed against Muslims and his fanciful theory, which is devoid of any historical evidence, draws inspiration from a line of thought that sympathizers of the BJP’s parent organisation – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – have been pushing for decades.

Reacting to the row over the Taj Mahal on Wednesday, Katiyar told news agency: “The Mughals destroyed our temple. Taj Mahal is a Hindu temple. Symbols of our Gods and Goddesses can be found there…Water from a great height used to drip on the Shivling kept in the temple. They (the Mughals) have removed the Shivling and built a mausoleum.”

Adityanath’s comments on the Taj Mahal, his scheduled visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 26 and his plans to oversee the progress in the Rs 370 crore development package that his government has announced for Agra are all being viewed as the chief minister’s attempts at controlling the political damage caused to the BJP due to controversial statements of the party’s leaders against the architectural marvel.

Besides Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik too had warned against playing politics over the Taj Mahal, asserting that the monument is “one of the wonders of the world and the pride of our country”.

Katiyar comments come days after BJP’s Sangeet Som, the party MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Sardhana constituency, claimed that the Taj Mahal is a “blot on Indian culture”. Earlier, the Adityanath government’s tourism department had omitted any reference to the Taj Mahal in a brochure that it published to highlight tourism hot spots of the state.

Adityanath’s deputy, Dinesh Sharma had in September said that Mughals “were not our ancestors but looters” and described Shah Jahan as a “barbaric ruler” while endorsing the falsehood that the Mughal Emperor had got hands of the construction workers who built the Taj Mahal amputated.

The amputation theory – like Katiyar’s claim of the Taj Mahal being a Hindu temple – is one that finds no basis in history but has been in circulation in India for decades, thanks to the misinformation spread by several tourist guides at the Taj and self-styled BJP-sympathizing historians like PN Oak.

It was Oak who floated the absurd theory that the mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his favourite wife Mumtaj Mahal was built atop a Shiva temple and was originally called Tejo Mahala. Oak’s petition to the Supreme Court over a decade ago, in which he had demanded excavation of the Taj Mahal’s foundation to support his theory had been summarily dismissed. Oak, who dies in 2007, had also floated an equally ridiculous theory – that not just the Taj Mahal but even the Vatican City was once a huge Shiva temple which was later destroyed and converted as into the centre of the Catholic Church by the Christians![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]