Now, former Cong MLA says rename Rajpath after Kalam

Former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan asked the government to name Rajpath after late former president APJ Abdul Kalam. Khan said he would send a memorandum to the New Delhi Municipal Council to rename Rajpath by October 20.

A day after renaming a street in south Delhi’s Okhla after Aurangzeb, former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan asked the government to name Rajpath after late former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

Former MLA Asif Mohammad Khan (in white kurta pajama) at a local road that he named ‘Aurangzeb Road’. (Virendra S Gosain/HT)

Khan said he would send a memorandum to the New Delhi Municipal Council to rename Rajpath by October 20, failing which he will lead a march there and change the name himself.

“We will go to Rajpath on October 20 and name it as APJ Abdul Kalam Road. Missiles built by Kalam have been showcased on the Rajpath and renaming this road will be a fitting tribute to him,” Khan told Hindustan Times.

He along with a 100-odd men on Friday gathered on what many call as Kalindi Kunj road, which has Abul Fazal Enclave on one side and the vast fence of the Okhla bird sanctuary on the other, and burnt an effigy of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Khan had put up boards on a 3-km stretch in Jamia Nagar, naming it as Aurangzeb Road.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation, however, is not amused. “We will get these boards removed. Any naming or renaming of roads in municipal areas has to be approved by its naming committee and the standing committee. No individual can do it. We are also against keeping or naming a road after any brutal ruler,” south civic body mayor Subhash Arya said.

Khan, however, was unfazed. “Home minister Rajnath Singh had recently said in Parliament that names of historical places and buildings cannot be changed. Then, how come the government allowed to change the name of a road, which is after a personality from history? They are doing things illegally and we are just reciprocating. It is a fight of ideology and we won’t budge to RSS ploys,” Khan said.

Even though Kejriwal had supported the name change of Aurangzeb Road in Lutyens’ Delhi, his party’s MLA from Okhla Amanatullah Khan has written to him to stall the move. “I request you to retain the name of Aurangzeb Road. There are many roads named after the British, they can be changed,” he wrote.