The three-day Urs celebration will begin on February 6. The period is observed to mark the death of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — A right-wing organisation, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, has filed a petition in a court in Agra seeking a prohibitory injunction against the observance of the three-day ‘Urs’ event at the Taj Mahal. The court has accepted the petition and scheduled hearing for March 4.
The three-day Urs celebration will begin on February 6. The period is observed to mark the death of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who got the Taj Mahal constructed in 1653 on the banks of Yamuna in Agra.
The petitioner challenges not only the celebration itself but also objects to the free entry for the Urs inside the iconic monument, media reports said on Saturday.
The petitioner has sought a permanent prohibitory injunction against the committee celebrating the Urs. The objection also extends to the provision of free entry for the event at the Taj Mahal, the petitioner’s counsel, Anil Kumar Tiwari, said.
The Hindu group’s spokesperson, Sanjay Jat, explained the basis of the petition: “The petition has been filed on the basis of an RTI (Right to Information) filed by a historian of Agra city, Raj Kishore Raje. The RTI revealed that neither the Mughals nor the British allowed Urs celebrations inside the Taj Mahal.”
Jat further added, “So, on that basis, we have filed a petition seeking the prohibitory injunction, stopping the organisers of Shahjahan Urs Celebration Committee, headed by Saiyyad Ibrahim Zaidi, from celebrating the Urs at the Taj Mahal.”