With 2019 general election nearing, the right wing groups are making every effort to polarize the nation. They have started the campaign demanding the start of work for construction of Ram temple at disputed Ayodhya site though matter is still pending in Supreme Court. Now their latest target is one of the eight wonders of world the beautiful Taj Mahal. In a bizarre act on Saturday a group of women, part of a right-wing organisation, performed “aarti” and sprinkled Gangajal (holy water) around the Taj Mahal to protest the offering of prayers by Muslims on a weekday.
A few activists of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal’s (RBD) performed aarti, “purified” the monument with Ganga water and threatened to repeat the ritual if “others” kept flouting the rules. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has banned namaz at the mosque inside the Taj Mahal on all days, except for Fridays when it’s closed for public. The right group alleged that Muslims violated ASI order and performed Namaz on Wednesday. They claim that Taj Mahal’s original name is Tejo Mahal and that it was a Hindu temple. However ASI last year told an Agra court that it is a tomb and not temple as claimed by a petitioner. It is unfortunate that even epitome of love Taj Mahal is being used as tool to pursue the agenda of polarization. This divisive agenda may yield short term political gains for certain parties but in the long run it will hurt the social fabric of the nation. For a country with massive minority population, the ever growing hate driven campaign against its own citizens being unleashed by right groups has potential to back fire very badly.