Sena bid to perform ritual at Taj foiled

IANS - Gulf News - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Agra: An attempt by the rightwing group Shiv Sena to enter Taj Mahal to perform Hindu rituals was foiled by police yesterday.

Police cordoned off the area forcing the Sena activists to perform the religious practice outside. About 20 Sena activists were arrested.
After police cordoned off the 500-metre area around the Taj Mahal, the activists moved to the area around the complex called the Taj Corridor from where they performed the ritual.

The Sena activists' failed effort to perform the rituals inside the Taj Mahal, a 17th century mausoleum built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jehan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, comes two days after thousands of Muslim pilgrims returning from the Sufi shrine at Ajmer entered the complex to offer prayers and see the monument.

As a reaction to the incident, the Sena activists had announced their plan to perform the rituals to reassert their claim that the mausoleum was built at the site of a temple. When asked how they would enter, a Sena official had said: "This will be a guerrilla operation."

Shiv Sena believes that the Taj Mahal was originally a Rajput structure, which housed a Shiva temple. They have prepared a long list of evidence in support of their claim, which most historians do not accept.

The Taj Mahal, a white domed monument considered one of the wonders of the world, is closed to visitors on Fridays, but opens for about two hours in the afternoon to allow local Muslims to offer prayers at the mosque inside.