The Allahabad high court on Thursday, May 12, pulled up a Bharatiya Janata Party leader for his petition seeking to open the doors of 22 sealed rooms within the Taj Mahal to enable research that would lead to the alleged ¡°real history¡± of the structure.
A division bench of Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Lucknow bench of the high court dismissed the petition, according to Bar and Bench.
The petition had been filed by Rajneesh Singh, who news outlets have identified as the ¡®media in-charge¡¯ of BJP¡¯s Ayodhya unit.
The petitioner added, ¡°If there are many hidden things under the Taj Mahal that should be in public (sic).¡±
The bench told the petitioner, ¡°If they have said that rooms are closed because of security reasons, then that's the information. If you're not satisfied, then challenge it.¡±
The high court further said to Singh, ¡°Please enroll yourself in MA, then go for NET, JRF and if any university denies you research on such a topic, then come to us.¡±
When the petitioner insisted on being allowed to go to ¡°those rooms¡±, the court remarked, ¡°Tomorrow will you come and ask to go to the chambers of Honourable Judges?¡±
The plea, filed by petitioner Dr Rajneesh Singh, according to Live Law, contends that the Taj Mahal was a Shiva Temple, known as Tejo Mahalaya.?
?The petitioner also states a monument of world importance ¡°must not be allowed to be the victim of a ¡®historical fraud¡¯.¡± He also called it ¡°an infringement of Indian tradition and heritage¡± if the Taj Mahal has been ¡°wrongly and falsely¡± identified as a mausoleum.
The petition states, ¡°It is respectfully submitted that for many years, one controversy is at its peak which is related to the Taj Mahal. Some Hindu groups and reputable saints are claiming this monument to be an old Shiv Temple ¡ª which is supported by many historians and facts. However, many historians believe it to be the Taj Mahal built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Some people also believe that Tejo Mahalaya appears to be one of the Jyotirling (Nagnatheshwar).¡±
The petition also alleges the Tejo Mahalaya was built by Raja Paramardi Dev in 1212 AD, which was then inherited by Raja Maan Singh, an erstwhile ruler of Jaipur. ¡°After him, the property was held and managed by Raja Jai Singh but was annexed by Shah Jahan (in 1632), and later it was converted into a memorial for the wife of Shah Jahan,¡± the plea states.
This comes a day after BJP's Lok Sabha MP from Rajsamand constituency of Rajasthan Diya Kumari claimed that the land on which the Taj Mahal stands belonged to Jaipur's ruler Jai Singh and that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had acquired the same from Singh.
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