RECLAIMING THE TAJ

Several right-wing outfits insist Taj Mahal was a Shiva temple to begin with

➘ May 2017: Protest by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, saying that the Taj Mahal was actually a Shiva temple. Later, some of them wearing saffron clothes enter the Taj Mahal against the rules

➘ Nov. 2018: Meena Diwakar, the district president of the women's wing of the Bajrang Dal, tries to perform an aarti inside the mosque in the Taj Mahal. Police register an FIR against Diwakar

➘ Jan. 2021: Four activists of the Hindu Jagran Manch are arrested for waving saffron flags while reciting Shiv Chalisa on the Taj Mahal premises. They are released on bail from the court

➘ Apr. 26, 2022: Mahant Paramhans Das of Ayodhya’s Tapasvi Chhavni visits the Taj with a ‘brahmadand’ (religious penalty) wrapped in saffron cloth. He is not allowed entry, sparking protests by Hindu organisations the next day

➘ May 3: Paramhans Das, who described the Taj Mahal as Tejo Mahalaya, visits Agra again

➘ May 5: Das announces land worship and purification in the Taj Mahal. The police send him back to Ayodhya after putting him under house arrest

➘ May 7: BJP leader Rajnish Singh files a petition in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad

High Court, seeking a direction to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to open the 22 locked rooms inside the Taj Mahal

➘ May 12: The high court dismisses the plea, saying the petitioner filed it in a “casual” manner and failed to point out which of his legal or constitutional rights were being infringed upon. The ASI had told an Agra court in 2017 that there was no evidence that a temple ever existed at the site of the Mughal mausoleum