The BJP MLA, while addressing a gathering in Meerut, said that Taj Mahal was a blot on the Indian culture.

BJP MLA Sangeet Som has courted controversy for his comments on the heritage site Taj Mahal.
The BJP MLA, while addressing a gathering in Meerut, said that Taj Mahal was a blot on the Indian culture.
His comments come in the wake of the controversy surrounding the omission of Taj Mahal from the Uttar Pradesh Tourism booklet .

In a response to the critics, Som asked what history were they talking about. He said Taj Mahal’s creator Shah Jahan imprisoned his father and wanted to wipe out Hindus.

Sangeet Som said it is unfortunate if people like Shah Jahan were part of the history and his government will change this history.

The Uttar Pradesh tourism booklet was released to mark six months of the Yogi Adityanath government.

The booklet includes Adityanath’s Gorakhpur temple but has no mention of the Taj Mahal.

Som has been known for making provocative statements in the past too. However, this time the BJP seems to have distanced itself from the controversy.

Media reports quote Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson, Anila Singh as saying that Som made the statements in his own capacity.

Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi in a sharp rebuttal said that traitors also built the Red Fort and asked if PM Modi would stop hoisting the national flag. In a series of tweets he even asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Adityanath will ask domestic and foreign tourists to not visit Taj Mahal.

He even said that the Hyderabad House in Delhi was built by ‘traitor’ and if PM Modi stop hosting foreign dignitaries.