BJP distances itself from MLA Sangeet Som's Taj Mahal remark

Lucknow/Hyderabad: Muzaffarnagar riots-accused and the BJP’s Saldana MLA Sangeet Som triggered controversy on Monday by claiming that the Taj Mahal was a “blot” on Indian culture.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also challenged the Prime Minister and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to bring out advertisement saying: “Don’t go to the Taj because in our view it’s a symbol of traitors”.

“Even Hyderabad House in Delhi was built by a ‘traitor’... Will Modi stop hosting foreign dignitaries there?” asked Mr Owaisi, an MP from Hyderabad.

Hyderabad House was built by Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam, on a land offered by the British.

Mr Som had even misquoted history by saying that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the builder of the 17th century mausoleum, had “jailed his father” and wanted to wipe out Hindus from the country. (The reality, of course, is that it was Shah Jahan himself who had been jailed by his son Aurangzeb, who had seized the throne.)

Mr Som’s remarks at a rally on Sunday came after the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government removed the Taj Mahal from the list of attractions in its tourism booklet. 

Sensing the political furore that its MLA’s remarks could generate, the BJP said it was Mr Som’s “personal view”. 

UP tourism minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi said, “It's Sangeet Som’s individual opinion. The Taj Mahal is a cultural heritage and we are proud that it is housed in Uttar Pradesh.”