Resentment over Muslim emperor building India’s most recognisable monument fuels campaign to push it to margins of historyTimes are tough for India’s monument to love. Air pollution is turning its marble surface yellow. Restoration work is obscuring its distinguished minarets. Tens of millions of tourists still flock to Agra each year,but numbers are reportedly waning. Critics of the Taj Mahal are also growing increasingly bold. In past months, devout nationalists in the Hindu-majority country have stepped up a campaign to push the four-century-venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) Mughal monument to the margins of Indian history. One legislator recently kicked up a national storm when he labelled the tomb “a blot”. Related: Rise of Hindu ‘extremist’ spooks Muslim minority in India’s heartland Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com