BJP MP and former Jaipur Princess Diya Kumari staked claim to the land. On which the Taj Mahal built, originally belonged to his family. Diya Kumari insisted that she had documents that reflected the claim of the royal family of Jaipur on the land.
Diya Kumari’s remarks came in the wake of a petition filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) asked to examine 22 locked rooms of the Taj Mahal. To check the presence of Hindu idols.
Speaking in support of the petition, BJP leader and Jaipur Princess Diya Kumari said, “It should be an inquiry there, as to what was there before the memorial was built. People have the right to know what was originally before the ‘tomb’.
He said the Jaipur family has records available and it will provide these if required. Diya Kumari claimed that Mughal ruler Shah Jahan took over her family’s land.
“Compensation given in lieu of the land but how much it was. Whether they accepted it or not, I can’t say. Because I have no idea about the records that are in our ‘Pothikhana’,” he said. But the land belonged to our family and Shah Jahan had acquired it,” said Diya Kumari, adding that since there was no judiciary there, no appeal was made at that time. Things will be clear only after checking the records.
Present controversy surrounding Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. They commissioned the structure in 1631 and construction began the following year. The marble monument took 22 years and 22,000 workers to finally complete in 1653.
The petition claimed that there used to be a Shiva temple which converted by Shah Jahan into his wife’s tomb.
A petition filed in the Allahabad High Court seeking a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). To open the 22 rooms of the Taj Mahal which no one opened for a long time.
The petition, filed by BJP media in-charge In Ayodhya Rajnish Singh. Cites claims of some historians and Hindu groups that the mausoleum is actually an old Shiva temple.
Singh said the demand was not to make the Taj Mahal a temple but to bring out the truth of the matter for social harmony. He said the only way to end such a dispute is to check closed doors.
