Taj Mahal missing from UP govt booklet: Rahul Gandhi wades into row with a sly tweet in Hindi

"Andher nagri, chaupat raja." That's what Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had to say today following a row over the iconic Taj Mahal not being included in the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department booklet.

"Sooraj ko deepak na dikhane se uski chamak nahi ghatti! Aise hi raaj ke liye Bhartendu ne likha thha: 'Andher nagri, chaupat raja' (Not showing a lamp to the sun does not reduce its brightness. It is for such a regime that (Hindi writer) Bhartendu had written: 'Andher nagri, chaupat raja')," the 46-year-old leader posted on Twitter today.

Rahul's Congress had on Monday termed the omission of the Taj Mahal not being included in an Uttar Pradesh government's booklet listing tourist attractions in the state "both a joke and a tragedy".

"If it is a booklet on tourism and it excludes Taj Mahal, at one level it is a joke and at another level it is tragic. It is like saying we will have (William Shakespeare's) 'Hamlet' without the Prince of Denmark," said Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

"How can you imagine tourism in Uttar Pradesh or India without Taj Mahal? I cannot understand. If it is indeed a booklet on tourism and excludes the Taj, it shows a clear religious bias which is completely misplaced," he added.

Singhvi said that "such pettiness diminishes" India.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Yogi Adityanath is in power in Uttar Pradesh. The booklet, released by tourism minister Rita Bahuguna in Lucknow last week, features other heritage sites including Adityanath's Gorakhdham temple, but has no mention about the seventh wonder of the world.

The Uttar Pradesh government later claimed Taj Mahal was not deliberately dropped and asserted that the booklet mentions a number of projects that are being taken up to develop India's many attractions.