[The assault late last month made headlines for several days in India. It was a fresh setback for tourism in this part of the country, which is home to some of the world’s most famous monuments but finds its status threatened by disputes about its Muslim heritage, amid reports of declining visitor numbers and of harassment of tourists.]
By
Kai Schultz and Suhasini Raj
 |
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The
Taj Mahal in Agra, India, in 2012. Some Hindu nationalists have denounced
the
Muslim monument as built by “traitors” who “wanted to wipe out Hindus.”
Credit
Pawan Sharma/Associated Press
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FATEHPUR
SIKRI, India — Quentin
Jérémy Clerc and Marie Droz were getting away from the tourist trail. Visiting
Fatehpur Sikri — once the capital of the Mughal Empire, and about 25 miles from
the Taj Mahal — the young Swiss couple decided to explore a secluded portion of
its crumbling fortress.
The trouble began around midday after they
left the fortress, following a set of railway tracks to a scrubby field where
they encountered a group of local boys and young men.
Youths would later tell the police that the
couple, both 24, had offended them by ignoring their greetings and kissing in
front of them. Not so, Ms. Droz told The Times of India. They were trying to
force her to take selfies with them, Mr. Clerc added. Eventually, they began
beating the couple with sticks and rocks.
By the time a crowd had gathered and the
youths had run away, he had a fractured skull and possibly permanent hearing
damage and she had a fractured left arm. “The blood was flowing,” said Ram
Kishor, a police constable in the area.
The assault late last month made headlines
for several days in India. It was a fresh setback for tourism in this part of
the country, which is home to some of the world’s most famous monuments but
finds its status threatened by disputes about its Muslim heritage, amid reports
of declining visitor numbers and of harassment of tourists.
Stops at Fatehpur Sikri and in the nearby
city of Agra to see the Taj Mahal, all of which are in Uttar Pradesh State, are
at the top of many itineraries for tourists in India. Built in the 17th century
by the Muslim emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj
Mahal attracts millions of visitors every year. Tour operators call it India’s
monument to eternal love.
But Hindu nationalists, some of them aligned
with the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, have taken aim at the Taj Mahal and
its ties to a Muslim ruler.
During a trip to Agra in June, Yogi
Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, said at a rally that small
replicas of the monument given to foreign dignitaries “did not reflect Indian
culture.” Other far-right leaders went further, describing it as having been built
by “traitors” who “wanted to wipe out Hindus.”
But Mr. Adityanath seems to be softening his
stance, at least in public. When he visited Agra in late October, he called the
Taj Mahal a “unique gem.” A tourism brochure published by the state government
that initially omitted the Taj Mahal has been updated to include it.
Tour guides said the controversy had hurt
their business.
“These politicians, they don’t know about
what is the architecture, what is the archaeology, what is the mausoleum,” said
Rishi Vashisth, 56, who has worked as a guide for over three decades. “So we
are unable to represent our own product in the proper way.”
Under the current government, Mr. Vashisth
said, fringe religious groups had proliferated in Agra like “mushrooms after
the rain.”
Around the city, where ox carts, motorbikes
and sport utility vehicles all barrel down the same potholed streets, many
residents and tourists seemed unperturbed by the political noise. “A thousand
voices will say a thousand things” was how Girdhari Lal, 62, a seller of
sweets, put it. But visitors had different reactions to harassment.
On a recent day, a throng of tourists formed
a line at the mouth of the Taj Mahal complex, pressing their bodies forward.
Among them was Vital Labonte, 66, a French Canadian visitor in hiking boots,
who said the occasional jostle or appeal for money did not bother him.
“The kids run at you, they want money to better
their life,” he said. “Just say no. I’m not worried with it.”
Viktoria Simeoni, 23, an Austrian visitor who
had booked a trip to India on a whim, said she sometimes felt unsafe when men
stared at her or asked for pictures, a request often made to foreign tourists
in India.
“One lady gave me her baby,” she said. “I was
just holding the baby, and then she took pictures of me. I didn’t feel so
comfortable.”
The police found it necessary to crack down.
In the days after the attack, they arrested over 50 people they accused of
being touts with reputations for hounding tourists.
In Fatehpur Sikri, officials emphasized that
the severity of the attack against the Swiss couple was rare. The crime that
tourists report most often is theft.
Five youths aged 13 to 19 are being held by
the police over the attack on Mr. Clerc and Ms. Droz on Oct. 22. Police
officials said the youths were found several days later using photographs the
couple had taken as their assailants ran away. They came from a poor community
who make a living as farmers, basket weavers and acrobatic performers.
“We cannot say with surety what exactly
transpired,” said Pushpendra Pal Singh Chauhan, a police officer.
“Charges have been filed under various
sections for beating, breaking bones, loss of hearing in the right ear due to
beating, attempt to cause grievous injury and causing head injury,” he said.
The group face years in prison if convicted.
Mr. Clerc and Ms. Droz have declined further
interview requests, including one from The New York Times.
The Indian government has tried to make
amends, offering them a free stay at The Ashok, a five-star hotel in New Delhi,
as a “token of concern.”
But Shamsuddin Khan, 69, a longtime guide
with the Department of Tourism, worried about the negative publicity from the
assault, listing other instances of harassment and a general shrinkage of
tourism in Agra. He wondered what the future held.
“We have a slogan: The guest is a god,” he
said. “But what are you doing with the gods? You’re punishing them. Come to
India, why?”
