The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a right wing Hindu nationalist political party in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, released a controversial Hindu New Year calendar which says that Taj Mahal and the holy Muslim site of Mecca, along with several mosques and monuments from the Mughal era, are “Hindu Temples,” Times of India reports.
The calendar refers to Taj Mahal as “Tejo Mahalaya temple” and Mecca as “Macceshwar Mahadev temple.” On the other hand, the Kamal Maula Mosque in Madhya Pradesh has been called as “Bhojshala” and Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi has been referred to as “Vishwanath temple.”
The Hindu Mahasabha calendar further termed Qutub Minar as “Vishnu Stambh,” Atala mosque in Jaunpur as “Atla devi temple” and the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya as “Ram Janam Bhoomi.”
Hindu Mahasabha National Secretary Pooja Shakun Pandey, while speaking to The Times of India, said that the organisation resolves to make this India a Hindu Rashtra (religious Hindu state). She also hopes that the government will accept their demand and declare the country a Hindu nation.
She accused the Muslims of turning Hindu religious heritage sites into mosques and pledged to restore their original names. Pandey also added that all the names that have been mentioned in the New Year calendar have been verified by a retired professor from the history department of Varshney College, Aligarh.
Meanwhile, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahli, who belongs to All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), has termed the claims made by Hindu Mahasabha as baseless. He said that dubbing the holy site of Mecca a Hindu temple is against the spirit of secularism.
Zamirullah Khan, the former lawmaker from Aligarh, has equalled Pakistan’s Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and the members of Hindu Mahasabha in connection with the matter.
