Sangeet Som terms Mughal emperors traitors; questions Taj Mahal 'history'

Close on the heels of the BJP government in UP excluding Taj Mahal from a tourism booklet, the party’s Sardhana MLA Sangeet Som has questioned the place of the monument in history and called the Mughal rulers “traitors”.

“Many people were pained to see that the Taj Mahal was removed from the list of places (tourist destinations). What type of history? Is this history that the person who built the Taj Mahal imprisoned his father?” Som said on Monday at a public meeting in Sisoli, Meerut, distorting history while addressing a gathering after inaugurating a statue of eighth century king Anangpal Singh Tomar.

It was Shah Jahan who built the monument and he was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb.

Som, who has often made provocative remarks in the past and was in the news after the Muzaffarnagar riots and the lynching incident in Dadri, further said: “Do you call it history when the one who built the Taj targeted many Hindus in UP and Hindustan?”

The Sardhana MLA said invaders of India have been glorified in history and that Mughal rulers such as Babur, Akbar and Aurangzeb were traitors whose names should be removed from books. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi reacted to Som’s remarks and sought to know if the government would tell tourists not to visit the Taj Mahal. “Traitors also build Red Fort. Will Modi stop hoisting Tiranga? Can Modi and Yogi tell domestic and foreign tourist not to visit Taj Mahal?” the Hyderabad MP said in a post on Twitter