A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said it doesn’t matter who built the Taj Mahal,  Vinay Katiyar, a BJP MP from Kanpur, claimed the Mughal mausoleum is a Hindu temple which had once housed a Shivling.

“The Mughals destroyed our temple. Taj Mahal is a Hindu temple. Symbols of our Gods and Goddesses can be found there,” Katiyar told news agency ANI.

He alleged that the Mughals removed a Shivling and built a mausoleum in its place. “Water from a great height used to drip on the Shivling. They have removed it and built a mausoleum,” Vinay Katiyar said.

On Tuesday, Yogi Adityanath said the Taj Mahal was built by the blood and sweat of Indians. “It is not necessary to go into why Taj Mahal was built, who built it, and for what purpose… What is important is that Taj Mahal was built by the blood and sweat of India’s labourers and sons),” he said.

Yogi Adityanath, who had announced a Rs 370 crore development package for Agra, said he would visit the city on October 26 to oversee proposed works.

Sources told the Indian Express that the chief minister is likely to visit Taj Mahal during his visit.

Meanwhile, Governor Ram Naik also warned not to play politics over Taj Mahal. “The Taj is one of the wonders of the world and
the pride of our country. So don’t drag it into controversies and play politics over it,” he was quoted as saying.

On Sunday, speaking at an event in Meerut, BJP MLA Sangeet Som had questioned the Taj Mahal’s place in history and said his party’s governments at the Centre and state were working to erase the “blot” (kalank katha) of Akbar, Aurangzeb and Babur from history books.

His remarks came days after the Uttar Pradesh government omitted Taj Mahal from a tourism department booklet.(Agencies)