Amid the tense standoff between India and Pakistan triggered by the December 13 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, news reports were circulated from Lukhnow alleging that Lashker-e-Taiba, a militant outfit blamed by India for the attack, had threatened to blow up the Taj Mahal and that the authorities were planning to throw a veil over the monument to camouflage it.
These fantastic stories provided the much needed comic relief from the severe strain caused by the incessant war-mongering and a cavalier brinkmanship. It was like the appearance on the stage of comedian Falstaff in a Shakespearean tragedy.
Being obviously preposterous, the story did not attract much attention of even the hyper-bellicose section of Indian media.
The media carried on January 2 an evidently inspired news agency report that the Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was recently banned in Pakistan, had sent an e-mail to the Chief Minister of UP saying that they would blow up the Taj Mahal. The news agency attributed the story to a senior official “who did not want to be identified”. Why? Because it was a plant. A terrorist act is rarely carried out with such bravado and fanfare.
A day later, a follow up story circulated through AFP said that the “monument to love could have its fabled marbled dome and minarets covered with dark cloth as a protection against possible bombing raids”. An official disclosed (forgetting conveniently to disclose his own identity) that large quantities of cloth, ropes and ladders were being brought to the site to hide the monument.
The entire story, from the e-mail threat to the projected veiling of the beauty in marble, is a poor attempt at psychological warfare. No wonder, it turned out to be a damp squib. To begin with, even those belonging to the lunatic fringe will hesitate from spoiling in any way the beauty, attraction and the idea the monument embodies. Then, it is just not conceivable that an outfit which prides on being Muslim would blow up the eighth wonder of the world that pays an abiding tribute to the Muslim architectural attainment in the subcontinent.
The Taj is by far the best architectural monument left behind by the Mughals.
Why then were such stories floated? As already mentioned above, it is primarily a psy-war venture. It was perhaps calculated to heighten the tension, add to the din in the country over the attack on the parliament, and provide sticks to the inflammatory and frothy Hindu nationalist leaders, if not, fanatics, to beat Pakistan with.
No doubt India has already succeeded in securing unreserved condemnation of the terrorist attack on the parliament by the world community including Pakistan. The US has placed the two Jihadi groups -Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad- on its list of terrorist groups. So has Pakistan. Their bank accounts have been frozen. Pakistan has already arrested over a hundred of their leaders, is coming down heavily on all extremists, and is causing a structural shift in the seminaries that bred these religious zealots.
These are all salutary developments and India can claim credit for strengthening the hands of Musharraf in dealing firmly with the extremists.
But, the Indian policy planners have overstepped the limits of logic in floating the stories about likely terrorist attack on Taj Mahal.
They were perhaps trying to draw a parallel between the destruction of the Twin Towers and the possibility -no matter how remote- of a similar plane-bomb attack on Taj Mahal.
The attack on their parliament provided them with reason enough to generate an anti-Pakistan frenzy. A war hysteria was created in India “to teach Pakistan a lesson” and to convince the sole Super Power that Pakistan should be its next target in the war against terrorism.
Even a slow-witted politician knows that no atomic power can teach a lesson to another atomic power. War escalates to the highest point by its own momentum.
India is hand-in-glove with Israel in its covert animus towards Muslim states. Unfortunately, India’s foreign policy postures are, more often then not, Pakistan-centric.
While Iraq figures as the next target on the Israeli wish list, India has prominently placed Pakistan in that slot. The US wants to keep its focus on Afghanistan till Osama and Omar are finally sorted out. Pakistan continues to be its crucial ally in this regard.
India will have to suspend, if not forgo, its wish list. Geography has imparted to Pakistan a crucial strategic position. Geography will continue to shape its history. India would be well-advised to always keep in sight the emerging giant to the north, and Pakistan on its side.
Meanwhile, it would be well-advised to ban its own terrorist organizations -Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. These groups have been burning alive missionaries for converting low caste Hindus to Christianiy. They have been destroying mosques and churches, and carrying out focused assassinations. The US knows that the Indian government, dominated as it is at present by Hindu nationalist parties, uses these fanatic setups to draw maximum political mileage. It is demagoguery not statesmanship. Its allegations against Pakistan sound like the kettle calling the pot black. Doctor, cure thyself!
As for the Taj Mahal, the Hindu fanatics have gone to the extent of claiming that Shah Jehan never really built it but merely usurped an existing structure, housing a Shiva temple, from a local Hindu ruler to turn it into a Mausoleum for his queen!
P.N. Oak, masquerading as a research scholar on the Taj has even published a book promoting the theme. The idea perhaps is to excite feelings similar to those culminating in the destruction of Babri mosque.
Taj Mahal is unlikely to suffer a similar fate. It is no dilapidated, obscure structure. It is a world wonder. Scores of books have been written about it in different languages. It is located in India but it belongs to humanity.
The construction documents too give the lie to P.N.Oak’s preposterous contention. They contain complete inventories of the material used; each and every marble block used is accounted for. The entire project was under the supervision of the then famous Iranian architect, Ustad Isa, and took 22 years to complete in 1648.
As a monument to love, Taj Mahal is an antidote to hate and anger. It is a pity that this symbol of love is being exploited by narrow nationalists to promote hatred.
Taj is an elegy in marble, an expression of a dream and a vision, an unsurpassed architectural beauty, a visual delight. It changes colors from snow white to light golden depending on the time of the day. And, it glows at night in full moon.
Only a pervert and a scalawag might think of putting even a scratch on such a flawless beauty, the greatest symbol and signature of love in the world. Its beauty is its best security; it does not require a veil to protect it from any quarter.