Yogi Adityanath's visit to Taj Mahal was a journey of repentance, says CPI leader Atul Anjan

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to the Taj Mahal was a journey of repentance, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Atul Anjan said on Thursday. The chief minister, who visited the Taj Mahal on Thursday, had gained atonement, Anjan said, recalling provocative statements on the 17th-century Mughal era monument made by Adityanath and other BJP leaders. [caption id=“attachment_4178259” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] “Four months back, Adityanath said in an interview to a private television channel that if his party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh he will change the name of Taj Mahal. By visiting the Taj Mahal on Thursday he has actually corrected his course,” he said in a statement. “His visit was a prayashchit yatra,” the CPI leader added. According to Anjan, historians, tourists, and visitors who had travelled to India hundreds of years ago and written about the Taj Mahal in detail, but many BJP MPs, MLAs, and even party president Amit Shah continued to say that it was actually a Hindu temple. Anjan ridiculed the chief minister’s visit to the Taj Mahal saying the “chief minister has gained atonement by visiting the monument and also the tomb which is been visited by crores of visitors from the world over”.