Taj Mahal, not a symbol of love, demolish it says Assam BJP MLA

Amidst a major row over the NCERT reportedly dropping chapters on Mughal history from the class 12 text books, Assam BJP MLA, Rupjyoti Kurmi has triggered a row by allegedly seeking the demolition of the Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar.

Kurmi can be heard saying in videos being circulated online that an investigation ought to be held into whether Mughal emperor Shah Jahan 'truly' loved his wife Mumtaz.

He goes on to request Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to replace the two Mughal-era monuments by building Temples. The MLA from Mariani also announced that he is willing to donate a year's salary for the construction of a Temple.

"I urge the Prime Minister to immediately demolish the Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar. In place of these two monuments, the world's most beautiful Temples should be built. The architecture of those two Temples should be such that no other monument should come close to them," he said.

He also questioned why Shah Jahan had married three more times after the death of Mumtaz. He also said that the Taj Mahal which is one of the seven wonders of the world was built on the wealth of Hindu royalty.

"The Mughals came to India in the year 1526 and later made Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal with the money taken from the Hindu kings and that was our money. He made Taj Mahal for his fourth wife. He had seven wives and Mumtaz was his fourth. If he loved Mumtaz, so much then why did he marry more wives later," the MLA told news agency ANI.

He went on to say that the Taj Mahal is not a symbol of love.

The NCERT row:

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been in the news after being criticised by the opposition over the alleged removal of references to 'dislike to Hindu extremists for Mahatma Gandhi's pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity and banning of the RSS from the new class 12 political science and history textbooks.

The deletions were first reported by The Indian Express. A Hindustan Times report had said that the NCERT dropped topics related to 'Kings and Chronicles: The Mughal Courts,' from the history book.

NCERT chairman, Dinesh Prasad Saklani had said that the changes were made based on the recommendations of subject experts and not for any political considerations. He however said that the details of the excluded portions may have, by oversight not been mentioned in a list of rationalised topics that were released last June.