By TwoCircles.net Special Correspondent,
Lucknow: Cabinet minister for urban development, minority welfare, waqf and Haj Azam Khan has stirred another controversy after he termed the building of Taj Mahal by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as unjustified and irrational expenditure.
Azam was speaking after distributing cheques of scheme Hamari Beti Uska Kal at Muzaffarnagar on Sunday. Known for his speeches, Azam even stated that he would not stop any group which comes forward to demolish Taj Mahal.
“If instead of Babri Masjid, the mob had demolished Taj Mahal, I would have not stopped them,” he stated. As per him, Shahjahan had no moral authority to spend money from state exchequer for the memorial of his beloved wife.
He further said that Mayawati had done the same thing by constructing memorials and her statues.
A day earlier Azam had raked up another controversy when he during a function in Meerut had urged the girls for not following Mayawati. “You can become anyone but please don't become Mayawati,” he remarked. Azam had even stated that one day some Aurangzeb will jail Mayawati.
The statements came at a point of time when UP's Chief Minister (CM) Akhilesh Yadav is busy attracting the investors for the state during the investor summit in Agra.
Meanwhile, an organisation of Muslim intellectuals, Center for Objective Research and Development (CORD) has condemned Azam Khan's statements. President of CORD, Athar Hussain in a press statement stated that Azam's statement condemn it stating that this is a cheap kind of politicking which does not spare even our rich heritage and legacy of which Taj is the symbol.
“Azam Khan is a senior most minister in UP cabinet and if any clarification on his statement does not come from the government then it would confirm that present government in UP shares his sentiments vis a vis Taj, this whole idea is very dangerous for giving due respect to our shared heritage and even to its protection in state of UP in this government,” Athar Hussain added.