Aurangzeb Road reappears in Okhla, courtesy former Congress MLA

Aurangzeb Road now has a new address, thanks to a Congress leader in Jamia Nagar who has christened a road in the honour of the Mughal emperor.

Aurangzeb Road now has a new address, thanks to a Congress leader in Jamia Nagar who has christened a road in the honour of the Mughal emperor.

The Delhi government has decided to rename the Aurangzeb Road in the heart of the national capital after APJ Abdul Kalam to honour the former President. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

A road named after Aurangzeb, situated in Lutyens’ Delhi, was recently renamed Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road.

This 3-km road, which has Abul Fazal Enclave on one flank and the vast fence of the Okhla bird sanctuary on the other, didn’t have a name, claims former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan, who on Wednesday put up 10 boards across the stretch leading to Kalindi Kunj.

“Name is not the primary issue. The fight is about ideology. The RSS can’t decide who is a patriot and who is a traitor. Aurangzeb wasn’t the ideal emperor and we are not saying that he is a hero. But you are removing one Muslim name and replacing it with other. It seems like a clear message to one community - we will do whatever we want in this country,” Khan said.

“We will hold a formal ceremony on Friday. During the function, we also plan to burn effigies of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now the target is naming 100 roads across the country after Aurangzeb,” the former MLA said.

The move of putting up the boards - which proclaims in bold letters of Hindi, English and Urdu that the stretch is now Aurangzeb Road - has got good response from people, claims the leader.

Irfan, an erickshaw driver, however, was clueless when asked about this newly-named Aurangzeb Road. He was ferrying passengers on this stretch.

“This is Kalindi Kunj road, at least that is what I know. One side you have Kalindi Kunj, which is a gateway to Noida, and the other side you have Jamia Nagar thana. If something happened today, I am not aware of it,” the 30-year-old resident of Abul Fazal Enclave said. Some groups had objected to the decision to rename Aurangzeb Road after the late president. They had termed it a “deliberate” move that is “likely to set the trend of rechristening other cities/streets distorting history”.