Taj Mahal controversy: Hindutva's hatred for the monument of love betrays its extreme insecurities

'What Hindus want, we are going to do,' a BJP spokesperson said during a TV discussion about why UP had failed to include the monument in a tourism booklet

Can one hate the Great Wall of China or the Mona Lisa? What about the pyramids of Giza? Humans squabble a lot, but almost the entire planet agrees that these great works of beauty and art are treasures. On that small list is one monument from India. In a poll conducted among a million voters in 2007, the Taj Mahal in Agra made it to a list of the Seven Wonders of the World. Built as a mausoleum by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal is the world’s foremost symbol of love. So treasured