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BJP minister, MLAs to meet CM for name-change of more dists, towns
Minister of state for secondary education Gulab Devi proposes to meet Yogi soon to press the demand of renaming her home district Sambhal as Prithviraj Nagar or Kalki Nagar.
Lucknow: A number of BJP leaders, including a minister and legislators, propose to meet chief minister Yogi Adityanath again to press their demands for changing names of districts, cities or towns soon amid exchange of political fire over renaming of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards.
Firozabad district panchayat’s resolution demanding renaming of Firozabad district as Chandra Nagar has apparently triggered such demands, with more BJP leaders bringing them into focus ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Minister of state for secondary education Gulab Devi proposes to meet Yogi soon to press the demand of renaming her home district Sambhal as Prithviraj Nagar or Kalki Nagar.
“Yes, a demand for renaming Sambhal is being raised in different areas in the district. A large number of people came to meet me and I have assured them to convey their demand to chief minister Yogi Adityanath. I propose to meet the chief minister on August 12 and convey the feelings of the people,” said Gulab Devi, who represents Chandausi assembly seat of Sambhal.
BJP MLA Devmani Dwivedi said there was a demand to rename Sultanpur. “I have already raised the demand to rename Sultanpur as Kushbhawanpur in the state assembly earlier. This city was founded by Lord Ram’s son Kush. I have requested the chief minister for an early appointment to enable me to place the demand before him,” said Dwivedi who represents Lambhua assembly constituency of Sultanpur.
Sultanpur district’s official website also supports Dwivedi’s claims. It reads “The original town was situated on the left bank of the Gomti. It is said to have been founded by Kush, son of Ram, and to have been named after him Kushpur or Kushazbhawanpur. This ancient city has been identified by General Cunnigham with the Kushpur mentioned by Hiuentsang, the Chinese traveller.”
Brijesh, BJP MLA from Deoband assembly seat of Saharanpur, said he had consistently raised the demand to rename Deoband as Devvrand. Deoband is known for the seat of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom. He said the place had been referred to as Devvrand in ancient Hindu scriptures. “I will meet the chief minister during the monsoon session of state legislature commencing on August 17. I have met the CM in the past and he has given me an assurance about renaming Deoband,” he said.
A demonstration was held in Shahjahanpur on November 20, 2019 to demand its renaming as Shahjipur after name of Bhamashah, a close aide of Maharana Pratap. “I raised the demand before chief minister when he visited Bareilly about a year ago. No further action has been taken,” said Manvendra Singh, BJP MLA from Dadraul assembly constituency of Shahjahanpur.
Another BJP MLA from Shahjahanpur Vir Vikram Singh ‘Prince’ said he had raised the demand to rename Khudaganj block of his district. He said the process to rename the block had already begun. “I met chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently and demanded that Khudaganj should be renamed after freedom fighter Thakur Roshan Singh who along with Ram Prasad ‘Bismil’ was hanged for his involvement in the Kakori bank dacoity case,” said Singh, who represents Katra assembly constituency of Shahjahanpur.
Renaming of Ghazipur as Gadhipuri has also been demanded, on the ground that it was the capital of Maharishi Vishwamitra’s father king Gadhi in ancient India and renamed after an aide of Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. “We will meet chief minister soon to request change of name. We will also push for change of name of Muhammadabad assembly constituency as Dhara Nagar, as the area is mentioned in ancient scriptures,” said Alka Rai, BJP MLA from Muhammadabad assembly constituency of Ghazipur.
A demand to rename Muzaffarnagar as Laxmi Nagar has also been made. “Some people have even begun writing Laxmi Nagar in place of Muzaffarnagar. But nothing concrete has been done,” said Kamesh Tyagi, a farmer from Muzaffarnagar. Kapildev Agarwal, minister of state (independent charge) for vocational education and local MLA refused to comment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move for changing the name of Rajiv Khel Ratna Awards has evoked mixed reactions. “We can understand change of name of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards after Major Dhayn Chand, as late Rajiv Gandhi was not a sportsperson. This is acceptable. But in other cases, name changes appear to be the outcome of electoral politics and should not be encouraged,” said professor SK Dwivedi, former head of department, political science, Lucknow University.
“There should be no politics in sports. If the PM wanted to do something for sports he should have announced more facilities for sportspersons,” said senior Congress leader Pankaj Malik.
The BSP has attacked the Samajwadi Party for changing names in the past. BSP chief Mayawati said in a post on social media early this week that the BSP government had made the park in Lucknow that SP named after socialist ideologue Janeshwar Mishra. She said the SP government changed its name like changes made in the name of new districts.
Besides renaming Allahabad and Faizabad as Prayagraj and Ayodhya respectively, the state government has indulged in a number of name changes in the past. It recently recommended changing the name of Jhansi railway station after Rani Laxmi Bai.
