Agra, July 22 (Inditop.com) Despite fears of sectarian differences and confusion, officials heaved a sigh of relief as the three-day 354th Urs, death anniversary, of Mughal emperor Shahjahan ended peacefully here with a record number of 60,000 visitors entering the Taj Mahal for free.
The urs of the Mughal emperor came to an end Tuesday evening.
“How one wishes all these people had bought the tickets. If all these 60,000, domestic and foreign visitors had paid for their tickets, the official agencies would have been richer by more than Rs.25 to 30 lakh and at the same time spared the security organisations of additional pressure and deployment,” said Pratap, a guide.
“It is strange that so many people want to participate in the ceremonies and enter the Taj for free, but very few, if any, show any concern for the maintenance and upkeep of heritage buildings,” commented a foreign visitor after seeing the craze to enter the Taj.
Meanwhile, Prince Tucy, the last Mughal who came from Hyderabad to participate in the Urs, expressed his concern and displeasure at so many people turning up and risking the safety of the Taj Mahal.
Prince Tucy said: “The Urs should have been a simple, sombre affair and the chadar should not have been so long. It really serves no purpose.” He said nothing that could disturb the “rooh (soul) of the emperor and his queen” should be permitted.
“I was alarmed by the way unruly crowds raised slogans. I want people to behave in a dignified manner inside the mausoleum. This is no way to organise an Urs.”
Tracing direct descendancy from the founder of the Mughal empire, Babar, Prince Tucy claims he is the great grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar. He has been appointed the Mutwalli and caretaker of the Dargah Hazrat Shahinshahe Aurangzeb Alamgir in Aurangabad, by the Maharashtra government.
The prince has filed a case in the Agra Civil Court against various organising committees of the Urs. “The court has heard me today for more than an hour and reserved its judgement,” he told IANS.
On Tuesday evening, a 300-metre multi-coloured ‘chadar’ was offered by several Islamic organisations. Agra Mayor Anjula Singh and local Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Zulfiqar Bhutto also joined the Urs celebrations, along with representatives of the tourism industry.
