Who Is Diya Kumari? BJP MP Claims Taj Mahal Land Belonged To Jaipur Royal Family

Who is Diya Kumari? The Member of Parliament from Rajsamand in Rajasthan and a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party Diya Kumari believes that the land, on which the Taj Mahal was built, originally belonged to the Jaipur Royal Family. She alleges that it was acquired by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

She made these comments at a time when there has been a petition filed at the Allahabad High Court. The petition sought directives from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to open 20 rooms inside the historical monument to check the possibility of finding any Hindu idols.

The BJP media-in-charge Rajneesh Singh had filed this petition at the court on May 4 this year. Reacting to the petition, she said, "We have the documents that the land belonged to the Jaipur family and Shah Jahan acquired it. Changing the tone of her statements slightly, she said, "I am not saying that the land is ours. I am not aware what the circumstances were then, but if the court asks us to provide anything or any documents available with us, we will provide from Pothikhana (record room at the palace)."

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Who Is Diya Kumari?

Other than being an MP and a royal person, she is also a businesswoman. She is heading several business ventures, two schools, two trusts, museums, hotels and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

It was in the year 2013 that she became the Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Sawai Madhopur constituency. In 2019, she was elected as MP from the Rajsamand constituency with 5,51,916 votes. In August of the same year, she was elected as a member of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Kumari is the only child of HH Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh and HH Maharani Padmini Devi of Jaipur. She has three children--eldest is the current Maharaja of Jaipur and was born in 1998. Her other children include Gauravi Kumari and HH Lakshraj Prakash, who is Maharaja of Sirmour.

Apart from politics, she is the secretary and trustee of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust and the Jaigarh Forest Charitable Trust. She runs two hotels called Rajamahal Palace in Jaipur and the Jaipur House in Mt Abu.