BJP MLA plans resolution to rename Deoband
Brijesh Singh, the newly elected party MLA from Deoband in western Uttar Pradesh, has said he will move a resolution in the state assembly to rename Deoband as Deovrind, a name preferred by the RSS.
“It is the desire of the people of my constituency and I have promised to fulfil their wish by moving a resolution (in the assembly) for a change of name,” Brijesh Singh told HT on Friday.
He claimed the Hindu epic the Mahabharata contained references to Deovrind.
It is the desire of the people of my constituency and I have promised to fulfil their wish by moving a resolution for a change of name BRIJESH SINGH, Deoband BJP MLA
Will the city of Deoband, famous for the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, get a new name under Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule in Uttar Pradesh?
Brijesh Singh, the newly elected party MLA from Deoband in western Uttar Pradesh, has said he will move a resolution in the state assembly to rename Deoband as Deovrind, a name preferred by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
“It is the desire of the people of my constituency and I have promised to fulfil their wish by moving a resolution (in the assembly) for a change of name,” Brijesh Singh told HT on Friday.
He claimed the Hindu epic the Mahabharata contained references to Deovrind. He said the name was distorted to Deoband over a period of time, especially under Muslim rule.
Citing the ancient Tripur Bala Sundari temple and Jakhwala (erstwhile Yakshwala) village, he said they were associated with the Mahabharata. Yakshwala was the place where Yaksha put questions to Yudhisthir, the eldest of the Pandavas, he said.
Chaudhary Rajpal Singh, the party’s former Saharanpur district president, said even now RSS volunteers used the name Deovrind, instead of Deoband. The literary meaning of the word Deoband is ‘locked deities’, he explained.
Ashraf Usmani, former spokesperson for the Darul Uloom, said: “They ( BJP) made plenty of poll promises and are now trying to divert people’s attention from those promises. The city is known as Deoband across the world.”
“There are many cities with changed names. Will they also rename them? Delhi was earlier Indraprastha,” said Usmani.
The Deobandi movement within Sunni Islam derives its name from Deoband. The other prominent Sunni school of thought is known as Barelvi. Millions of people across the world follow the Deobandi ideology. The Darul Uloom seminary was established in 1866.
“Change of name can’t change the name of ideology. It will remain intact,” said Usmani.
Historian K K Sharma said there were two theories about the city’s name. The city has an ancient temple dedicated to Goddess Tripur Sundari. It also had a dense forest (‘van’) in the past . It is likely that the city’s name was derived jointly from Devi and Van (Devi Van) which later became popular in its distorted form ‘Deoband’ during Muslim rule, he said.
According to the other theory, the city is believed to be the abode of various deities (Deo) and was, therefore, known as Deo Vrind. With the passage of time, it came to be known as Deoband.
This is third time a BJP candidate has won from the constituency. Shashibala Pundeer of BJP won in 1993 and Sukhbeer Singh bagged the seat in 1996.