The UNESCO World Heritage site, Taj Mahal, has again gone missing from the promos of the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department (UPTD), an advertisement of which was published on World Tourism Day.
This is the second instance when the 17th-century monument has gone missing from the publicity material released by UPTD in the past three years of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government.
UPTD had, on September 27, published an advertisement in Hindi and English dailies featuring tourism sites of the state.
The advertisement titled “Welcome to Uttar Pradesh, the land of tranquillity and enlightenment,” had details of a webinar that was scheduled to be held on Sunday, in the presence of Minister of State for Tourism & Culture, Dr Neelkanth Tewari.
The iconic Taj Mahal attracts more tourists than any other site in India - over six million tourists every year - while it gives employment to more than four lakh people directly or indirectly, as per media reports.
Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal in Agra on the banks of the Yamuna River. The UNESCO world heritage site has found itself at the centre of politics since Yogi Adityanath took over the reins of the Uttar Pradesh government as its chief minister.
In 2017, UPTD had published a booklet on completion of six months of the BJP government. It was the first instance when the Taj Mahal was omitted from any publicity material released by UPTD which comes under the Ministry of Tourism.
The 32-page booklet titled “Uttar Pradesh Tourism: Its High Potential” mentioned various Hindu and Buddhist sites but omitted the Taj Mahal. The government had drawn flak from different quarters then, as people accused the Yogi-led BJP of playing politics over the famous heritage site considered as a symbol of eternal love.
Recently, Yogi renamed the Mughal Museum in Agra as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum.
While rechristening the under-construction museum near Taj Mahal, the chief minister had asked, “How can Mughals be our heroes?”
Ironically though, when American President Donald Trump visited Agra in February earlier this year, the CM gifted him a portrait of the Taj Mahal.