VHP goons allegedly vandalise gate to Taj Mahal

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AGRA: A group of agitated Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists on Sunday allegedly vandalised the west gate of Taj Mahal claiming it “blocked the path to a 400-year-old Mandir”.

A video footage of the incident shows 20 to 30 activists of the Hindutva organisation with hammers and iron rods trying to vandalise the western entrance to the monumenta even as they removed the steel gate installed by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). The furious VHP protesters were also raising slogans against them.

“On Sunday around 25-30 activists from the VHP came near the western gate of the Taj Mahal and started vandalizing the newly installed turnstile gate for ticket collection for Taj Mahal and Saheli ka Burj. The protesters had hammers and iron rods with them. They removed the gate and threw it some around 50 metres from there. Soon the Taj safety police team reached there and stopped them from vandalising more property,” Taj Safety circle officer (CO) Prabhat Kumar was quoted as saying to the Indian Express.

Ravi Dubey, a VHP functionary said, “We dislodged the turnstile gate and will not allow it to be installed at any cost. The temple is 400 years old and has been in existence prior to Taj Mahal. So there is no logic in blocking passage to the temple.”

An FIR was registered against five including Dubey, Mohit Sharma, Niranjan Pathak, Madan Verma and Gulla have been booked under various sections of IPC.

The news of the right-wing Hindutva groups vandalising the entrance of the Mausoleum became a topic of social media conversation too.