Lucknow: Amid all the hue and cry over the Taj Mahal, now, BJP Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar has claimed that Shah Jahan had destroyed a Hindu temple to build the monument.
“Taj Mahal is a Hindu temple that was known as Tejo Mahalaya. It was a Shiva temple that was demolished by Shah Jahan to build the Taj Mahal,” Katiyar told CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview.
He added, “It is a fact that there was a Hindu temple, but I’m not asking for the Taj Mahal to be destroyed. It is also all right that CM Yogi Adityanath wants to visit the monument.”
Two days ago, BJP MLA Sangeet Som had created a major row saying that the Taj Mahal was “a blot on Indian heritage” that was built by “traitors” and is nothing to be proud of. Som was referring to the fact that the Uttar Pradesh tourism department did not mention the 17th century mausoleum in its tourism booklet.
The Tejo Mahalaya has been a rumoured theory that has surfaced time and again with reference to the Taj. It is remarkably similar to the dispute of Babri Masjid and Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya.
Katiyar, who was elected to the Lok Sabha thrice, also touched upon the Ram temple debate. He said, “We hope for a favourable verdict by the Supreme Court in the Ram temple case. But if it doesn’t come through, we will still have other options like how it was done in the case of Somnath Temple. We are ready with the ground work required for the Ram temple and raw material for the first storey has also been prepared.”
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