A member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday advocated renaming the 'Rajiv Gandhi Nagarhole National Park' after Field Marshal KM Cariappa, the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army. BJP MP Pratap Simha argued that the name of a city, place, or road should have some significance and the local people should relate to it.
“What has Rajiv Gandhi got to do with Nagarhole National Park? I have suggested the name of Field Marshal Cariappa. He was the most celebrated Army officer,” the lawmaker from Karnataka told news agency ANI.
Earlier this week, Simha had requested Karnataka's forest minister Umesh V Katti to rename the national park to 'FM KM Cariappa Nagarhole National Park & Tiger Reserve' as a “fitting tribute to remarkable service rendered by him while serving in Army." In a letter dated August 30, Simha said that three national parks are named after Rajiv Gandhi and several others are named after the Gandhi-Nehru family, claiming it was an attempt to wrongfully appropriate inheritance of the Central government’s projects aimed at biodiversity conservation.
Highlighting the achievement of Field Marshal Cariappa, the BJP MP said that the first commander-in-chief is credited to have laid the foundation for transforming the Indian Army as one of the most disciplined and battle-hardy units to ensure national security and national unity. He further stated that Kodagu has the rare distinction of 20 serving Major Generals and four Air Marshals, making it a “Land of Generals.”
{{/usCountry}}Highlighting the achievement of Field Marshal Cariappa, the BJP MP said that the first commander-in-chief is credited to have laid the foundation for transforming the Indian Army as one of the most disciplined and battle-hardy units to ensure national security and national unity. He further stated that Kodagu has the rare distinction of 20 serving Major Generals and four Air Marshals, making it a “Land of Generals.”
{{/usCountry}}“Field Marshal Cariappa was the 1st Indian Commander-in-Chief (of Indian Army). He was proud son of Kodagu, after his retirement he came back to Kodagu & died there. He had so much love for Kodagu...What's the need to name everything after Gandhi-Nehru family?,” ANI quoted Simha as saying.
During Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his decision to rechristen Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour in the country, after Major Dhyan Chand.