NEW DELHI: The government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) has come under fire for omitting the Taj Mahal from its annual tourism brochure, released on Oct. 2.
The stunning white marble mausoleum, commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, is widely considered one of the seven wonders of the world and attracts millions of visitors annually. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — the country’s largest political party, which leads the UP government under Hindu nationalist Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath — has stated that “the Taj Mahal and other minarets do not reflect Indian culture.”
The 32-page booklet recently released by the UP Ministry of Tourism neglects to mention the UNESCO World Heritage Site at all, instead giving prominence to sites of significance to the Hindu religion.
Sanjay Jha, a spokesperson for the opposition Congress party, told Arab News, “This is symptomatic of a deeper ideological mindset. It is the manifestation of BJP’s resentment toward India’s history. The fact that Indian history has a significant Mughal presence is disturbing to those who are wedded to extremist Hindu ideology.”
“According to the BJP and its paternal organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Muslims in India are foreigners,” historian D.N. Jha said, adding that he believes Adityanath and the BJP are “undermining the Islamic heritage of India.”
Certainly, they seem intent on promoting Hindu culture and history. A few months back, Adityanath pointed out that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes on an official state visit, or receives foreign dignitaries at home, he presents the Bhagavad Gita or the Ramayana — both major Hindu texts — as a gift.
Rajeev Saxena, the president of the Tourism Guild of Agra, described the omission of the Taj Mahal from the tourism brochure as “immature and foolish,” adding that the site “doesn’t belong to UP and India — they are just custodians.”
Saxena told Arab News, “The government is attacking the tourism economy and violating the mandate of the people.”
Sanjay Sharma, president of the Tourist Guide Federation of India, agreed. “A monument which is part of the bread and butter for not only the people of Agra but for millions of people in UP… how could the government think of ignoring it?” Sharma said. “Fanaticism has blinded the government.”
Avanish Awasthi, the UP government’s secretary of tourism, argued that “adding Hindu sites to the brochure does not mean the Taj is being ignored.”
He pointed out that the government is developing areas around the site and has increased the budget for the upkeep of the monument itself.
“The booklet is not a guide to tourism,” he said. “It is just information about new places.”
Indian government sidelines Taj Mahal for its Islamic past
Indian government sidelines Taj Mahal for its Islamic past
French court slashes jails term for trio over 2020 teacher beheading
- Brahim Chnina, the Moroccan father of a girl who falsely claimed that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave his classroom before showing the caricatures, had his 13-year sentence reduced to 10 years
PARIS, France: A French court on Monday reduced on appeal the jail sentences of three men convicted over the 2020 terrorist beheading of a teacher who showed a class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Samuel Paty, 47, was murdered in October 2020 by an 18-year-old radical Islamist of Chechen origin in an act that horrified France.
His attacker, Abdoullakh Anzorov, was killed in a shootout with police.
Two friends of Anzorov, French national Naim Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, a Russian of Chechen origin, had their sentences of 16 years in prison reduced to six and seven years respectively by a Paris court of appeal.
Both were accused of having driven Anzorov and helping him to procure weapons before the beheading.
Brahim Chnina, the Moroccan father of a girl who falsely claimed that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave his classroom before showing the caricatures, had his 13-year sentence reduced to 10 years.
His daughter, then aged 13, was not actually in the classroom at the time and during the first trial apologized to the teacher’s family.
The court however left the 15-year term for French-Moroccan Islamist activist Abdelhakim Sefrioui untouched.
The quartet were among the seven men and one woman found guilty in 2024 of contributing to the climate of hatred that led to the beheading of the history and geography teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, west of Paris.
Paty, who has become a free-speech icon, used the cartoons as part of an ethics class to discuss freedom of expression laws in France.
