Mumbai, India (CU)_ According to the media, the petition was submitted by Dr. Rajneesh, media in-charge for the Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP in the Ayodhya district. Dr. Rajneesh would be represented in court by counsel Rudra Vikram Singh whenever the case is assigned for hearing. It has also requested the state government to establish a commission to examine these 20 locked rooms and search for evidence associated with Hindu idols or scriptures.
The Allahabad high court’s Lucknow bench has received a petition asking it to issue orders to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to unlock 20 rooms inside the Taj Mahal in Agra to determine whether Hindu statues and scriptures are concealed inside.
The BJP leader requested the court to issue orders to open the 20 locked rooms in Taj Mahal. He said, “There is an old controversy related to the Taj Mahal. Around 20 rooms in Taj Mahal are locked and no one is allowed to enter. It is believed that in these rooms there are idols of Hindu gods and scriptures. I have filed a petition in high court seeking directives to ASI to open these rooms to ascertain facts. There is no harm in opening these rooms and setting aside all controversies”.
In 2015, six attorneys asserted that the Taj Mahal was once a Shiva temple. In 2017, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar reiterated the allegation and urged UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to visit the structure to see the Hindu inscriptions therein. In January of 2019, BJP politician Anant Kumar Hegde also asserted that Shah Jahan did not construct the Taj Mahal, but rather purchased it from King Jayasimha.
These claims have been debunked by the historians as well as the Archeological Survey of India, which has repeatedly criticized revisionist interpretations of the Taj Mahal’s past and rejected ownership claims. In February 2018, the ASI submitted a testimony to a court in Agra declaring that the Taj Mahal was actually constructed as a mausoleum by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who wanted it to be a tomb and shrine for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
