Hindu outfit threatens to perform 'puja' inside Taj Mahal: report

Far-right Hindu group Rashtriya Bajrang Dal activists have threatened to perform 'puja' inside  the Taj  Mahal, a media report said. 

The threat came a day after women belonging to a local Hindu outfit barged inside the mosque at Taj Mahal and offered ‘puja’ and did ‘aarti’ inside the premises,.

The activists were protesting against the security agency’s failure to stop a Muslim group from offering prayers inside the mosque, which is in violation of the Supreme Court order, Indian Express reported.

The president of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal’s women’s wing president Meena Diwakar claimed that namaz was being offered inside the temple premises every day and if the guilty were caught and punished for breaking the law then they too were ready to face any police action.

“Permission was granted for offering namaz once on Friday but it has been offered on other days too. So we also offered ‘aarti’. We are prepared to face action if those violating the norms by offering ‘namaz’ on weekdays are punished,” HT quoted Diwakar saying.

The incident comes on the backdrop of an ongoing war of words between the ASI and members of Masjid Taj Mahal Intezamia Committee, which manages the mosque, over a Supreme Court order on Taj Mahal.

ASI contends the SC order implies that namaz can only be offered on Fridays by local residents, whereas the committee members say the order means that free entry for locals is on Fridays, while on all other days, anyone who has bought a ticket can offer namaz.