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Hours after Union Home Minister L K Advani admonished activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing for their aggressive display of loyalty on Saturday, the young men stunned and shocked people at the Taj Mahal with their shameful conduct.
Thousands of youth activists went berserk at the 17th-century monument of love in Agra, teasing women, urinating publicly, plucking flowers and rinsing their mouths in fountains, as officials watched helplessly.
Security personnel initially attempted to control the mob with batons, but succumbed to political pressure, especially after BJP activists belonging to Uttar Pradesh, where the party heads the ruling coalition, also joined the melee.
The activists have gathered in Agra to commemorate 50 years of the birth of the party.
The trouble began when some BJP workers went to visit the Taj, which opened to visitors free of charge for three days beginning Friday to commemorate the Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
Once there, they urinated all over the lawns, heckled visitors, plucked flowers, uprooted plants, ravaged the ancient fountains and launched a free-for-all, violating the placid environs that had been recently done up for the India-Pakistan summit in July.
The activists picked on foreign women in course of their teasing spree, much to the disgust of the victims.
Honeymooners also fell victim to the unruly workers and their lewd comments and heckling.
By the time the rampage was over, the Taj and its surroundings resembled one vast garbage heap. In a classic case of locking the stable door, a large posse of policemen was then posted at the monument.
A Taj Mahal official explained that most of the city police were preoccupied on Saturday with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's impending visit for the two-day BJP convention. "This is very unfortunate," an official told IANS. "Incidents like these put off the foreigners. It has never happened before."
Ironically, the display of boorishness came just a day after Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Uma Bharti told the party convention that the BJP was known for its discipline unlike the Congress, whose cadres were mostly 'rowdy'.
Indo-Asian News Service
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