Do not make Taj a controversy, Agra tourism industry demands

From a monument of Love, the Taj Mahal is slowly descending into becoming a monument of discord between Hindus and Muslims and between the Shia and Sunni Muslims. The reason - Mumtaz Mahal, the Mughal queen who is said to be interred in this monument was a Shia Muslim, while her husband, the Emperor Shahjahan, who was also interred here by his son Aurangzeb, was a devout Sunni Muslim.

At present, both the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam are placing their claim on the income of the unmatched marble monument that attracts more than a million tourists every year. Meanwhile, the Hindu nationalist organizations - Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad are bent on getting the monument declared as a Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, which was taken over from Raja Jai Singh and desecrated by Shahjahan to build the tomb of his wife.

Talking to India Today, social activist Deep Sharma said that out of all the claims made on the monument, the claim made by Irfan Bedar of Firozabad in Agra division is the most legally tenable as he has demanded to be appointed the Mutavalli of the Tomb on grounds of the earlier court rulings that no Islamic tomb could be left without a Mutavalli. Irfan is currently before the Supreme Court in support of his claim and his petition is to be heard soon.

Second viable claim, he said could be of the Hyderabad based Prince Tucy, who has made this claim on the basis of his Mughal lineage, linking him as the closest living relative of the deceased Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, following his murder at the hands of the East India Company.

However, he said there are other claims too, including that of Sunni Central Wakf Board UP Minister Azam Khan who has demanded that the Taj be open for Muslims 24-hours a day for prayers and Faizan Haider, Chairman of the Imam-e-Raza Committee in Lucknow who has claimed that since Mumtaz was Shia, her tomb should be under Shia Management and the government should allow Shia programs to be held there.

Not surprisingly, he said, the entire focus in these claims has been on the huge income generated by the Taj Mahal from tourists every year and each claimant has demanded a share in the income, claiming that it will be used for the welfare of the Muslims according to Wakf tenets.

Sr. Advocate Mohd Arif said that it was a legal fact that any tomb or grave is a property of the Wakf and in that context, even though the Tajmahal is an internationally famous monument, it is still in essence, a tomb and should be handed over to the management of the Wakf Board. This income will help in the development of the Muslims by paving the way to opening colleges and educational institutions for the muslim children who remain underprivileged despite several government schemes.

Rubbishing all the claims being made on the Taj, Prahalad Agarwal, President of Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber said that there are hundreds of graves and tombs lying unattended in the country and the Wakf Board has never cared to take up the welfare of those tombs. Just because the Taj is earning loads of money, every government or extra-government agency seems to be pouncing upon this income in one way or the other, which was not correct. He demanded that the Taj Mahal should not be made a part of any controversies as it will affect the flow of tourists to the city of Taj - Agra.