New Delhi: The Centre twice evaded a question asked by MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi in Parliament on Monday. Mr Owaisi, who represents Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha, posed the question to culture minister Mahesh Sharma twice during Question Hour. The minister was responding to supplementary questions on museums.

Read: Taj Mahal should be handed over to Wakf Board: Azam Khan

When Mr Dharmendra Yadav (SP) asked the first supplementary, Mr Owaisi, sitting next to Yadav, asked, “Who does the Taj Mahal belong to?” The minister ignored the question both times.

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The query came against the backdrop of UP minister and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan saying the Taj Mahal should be declared a property of the state’s Wakf Board. Shias say Mumtaz Mahal was a Shia, and the Taj Mahal, therefore, is Wakf property. Sunnis contend that the mausoleum comes under the Sunni Central Wakf Board.

Read: Leave Taj Mahal alone

Shias say Mumtaz Mahal in whose honour Taj Mahal was built, was a Shia and it belongs to Shia Wakf Board.
Sunnis contend Taj Mahal is a mausoleum that comes under the Sunni Central Wakf Board.