Surendra Singh, Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA from Baira constituency, said that Agra’s iconic Taj Mahal will be renamed as Ram Mahal. Stirring up a new controversy, he said that Taj Mahal used to be Lord Shiva temple before it was deconstructed and rebuilt into the famous tomb. 

He went on to claim that the monument will soon be renamed under the Yogi Adityanath administration hailing the Chief Minister as a descendant of Shivaji. 

“Shivaji’s descendants have arrived in the land of Uttar Pradesh. Just as Samarth Guru Ramdas gave Shivaji to India, similarly Gorakhnath ji has given Yogi Adityanath to Uttar Pradesh,” Singh said.

This is, however, not the first time the BJP MLA made the shocking claim. In 2018, Singh had said that all monuments in India built by Mughal emperors should be renamed. “A place, if named after a Mughal Emperor, stinks, but if the same place is renamed after Dr Abdul Kalam then its fragrance does wonders,” he had said.

Last year, CM Yogi Adityanath had renamed a Mughal Museum in Agra, the Taj Mahal city, after Maratha icon Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. “In your new Uttar Pradesh, there is no space for the symbols of “the mentality of slavery”. Shivaji Maharaj is our hero. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!” he had tweeted.

He has previously changed the names of cities in Uttar Pradesh like Allahabad to Prayagraj and Faizabad to Ayodhya. He has also changed names including Mughal Sarai to Pandit Deendayal Upadhayay Junction, Agra airport to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Airport, Urdu Bazar to Hindi Bazar, Ali Nagar to Arya Nagar, and so on.

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