Sunday, October 29, 2017

Taj Mahal in political crossfire over nationalism...

The Taj Mahal, India’s most popular cultural symbol and its most recognizable icon, called one of the most universally admired masterpieces of the world’s architectural heritage, is caught in a political crossfire that has sucked in politicians, activists and experts of all hues and ideologies and raised troubling questions over the rise of rampant Hindu nationalism.

The controversy began earlier this month when the state government of Uttar Pradesh, where the Taj Mahal is located, released an official 32-page official tourism brochure pointedly leaving out the marble jewel, commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who reigned from 1628 to 1658, to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Once called “the world’s greatest monument to love,” it is also regarded as India’s best example of Muslim Mughal architecture if not the world’s. The guide highlights numerous landmarks throughout the northern Indian state. Yet the Taj Mahal is missing.

That could have been a bizarre oversight. But the real agenda soon came to light. Uttar Pradesh, like the government in New Delhi, is run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the state’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is known for his hard-line political Hinduism. Full story...

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