Taj Mahal will be renamed as ‘Ram Mahal’, says BJP MLA Surendra Singh
Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA from Baira constituency, Surendra Singh said that Agra’s iconic Taj Mahal will be renamed as Ram Mahal. Stirring up a new controversy, he said that Taj Mahal used to be Lord Shiva temple before it was deconstructed and rebuilt into the famous tomb and that it will soon be renamed during UP CM Yogi’ Adityanath’s term.
“Taj Mahal was a Shiva temple and it will be renamed as Ram Mahal,” Singh told reporters, reiterating his claim on the plan to renaming the immense mausoleum of white marble.
“Shivaji’s descendants have arrived in the land of Uttar Pradesh. Just as Samarth Guru Ramdas gave Shivaji to India, similarly Gorakhnath ji has given Yogi Adityanath to Uttar Pradesh,” said Singh.
The MLA’s remarks came two days after three members of the Hindu Mahasabha, including a woman, were arrested on Thursday for offering prayers to Lord Shiva inside the Taj Mahal compound. This was the second such incident in the last three years. In November 2018, a group of women activists performed puja in the mosque, located on the Taj Mahal premises. The organisation claims that Taj Mahal was originally a Shiva temple and was called Tejo Mahalaya.
In 2018, Singh had said that all monuments in India built by Mughal emperors should be renamed. “A place, if named after a Mughal Emperor, stinks, but if the same place is renamed after Dr. Abdul Kalam then its fragrance does wonders,” he had said.
CM Yogi Adityanath had renamed a Mughal Museum in Agra after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj last year. He had previously changed na,ed of major cities in Uttar Pradesh like Allahabad to Prayagraj and Faizabad to Ayodhya.