'Caretaker' says locals want Taj earnings to benefit the poor and needy
Bedar says he had written to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board in the capacity of "elected caretaker" to list the Taj as Waqf property.
Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan's statement on the Taj Mahal has left one stakeholder not particularly impressed in the last few days. Mohammad Irfan Bedar, who claims to be the monument's Muttawalli (caretaker), feels Azam should stop linking the Taj with the Muslims alone.
"Azam Khan sounds foolish and ridiculous when he demands to register the Taj Mahal as a property of Waqf. He is trying to launch himself into national politics by associating himself with the Taj Mahal. But he doesn't know anything about the mausoleum. All he wants is to become is its caretaker?," Bedar, 64, told MAIL TODAY on Saturday.
The Firozabad-based bangle merchant claims that he was elected caretaker of the Taj by the people on April 20, 1998. The local people were of the view that Shah Jahan was a secular emperor who wanted to use the Taj's earning for uplift of the poor irrespective of religion and caste, he says.
Bedar says he had written to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board in the capacity of "elected caretaker" to list the Taj as Waqf property. In 2004, Bedar moved the Allahabad High Court against the dilly dallying of the Board on this issue. Although the high court dismissed his petition in November that year, it had asked the Board to resolve the dispute within three months.
In July 2005, the Board had issued a notification declaring that Taj Mahal was a Waqf property. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in turn, filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court in August 2005 against the Board's order. Bedar is pursuing the case in the apex court.
"I am pursuing the case to fulfil the wish of the people of Agra. Azam had made a similar demand to the Board in 1987. His demand was turned down by the Board, which he now heads. Sadly, Azam is not aware that declaration of a Waqf property doesn't mean that the Board will become the sole owner of the Taj. It also doesn't mean that he can use its earnings for the wellbeing of a particular community alone. It only means that the Board can claim part of the earning made from the mausoleum," Bedar asserts.
He says that he had also objected to the interference of the Agra Development Authority (ADA) in the Taj Mahal. "While 25 per cent of the earning from the monument goes to the ASI, the rest remains with the ADA. While the ASI takes care of the building, the ADA, a state government body, corners 75 per cent of its earning without any valid reason. Does Azam know this?" he asks.
Advocate Bahar U. Barqi, who represents Bedar in the apex court, says all stakeholders should stop making the Taj and its ownership a Hindu-Muslim issue. On December 5, 2005, the Supreme Court had stayed the order of the Waqf Board. Later, the top court upheld its order on December 7, 2010. The case is pending in the apex court.
"Azam doesn't know the law of the land. He does not understand that a sub-judice case can be decided in the court only. This minister cannot be taken seriously," Bedar adds.
On Thursday, Azam Khan had stoked a controversy when he demanded that the Taj Mahal be handed over to the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board.
The minister added that earnings from the monument should go towards helping the poor Muslims.
He had also suggested that the income from the Taj Mahal could be used for the education of Muslims.