Name change politics: Rechristening Allahabad opens a Pandora’s box
Districts tracing their origins to Mughal rulers may get new name
LUCKNOW: After the Yogi Adityanath government’s decision of renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj, the saffron brigade’s list of cities and towns that “require renaming” may get longer.
Giving a new dimension to the politics of name change in Uttar Pradesh, many Hindu organisations are reviving their demand of renaming other cities, towns or districts, amid strong objections by opposition parties.
The districts, having official websites tracing their origins to Mughal rulers, may come in for a close scrutiny in future.
UP minister for medical and health and government spokesman Sidharth Nath Singh said, “The government will take a call after studying the issue. We may also consider the demand or suggestion for changing of names.”
Singh had taken up the demand of renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj and had written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath and governor Ram Naik on the issue. One such district is Azamgarh for which there has been a demand that it be renamed Aryamgarh.The official website of Azamgarh says the city was founded in 1665 by Azam, son of Vikramajit.
“A descendant of Gautam Rajputs of Mehnagar in Pargana Nizamabad, Vikramajit had embraced Islam like some of his predecessors. He had a Muhammadan wife who bore him two sons, Azam and Azmat. While Azam gave his name to the town, and the fort, Azmat constructed the fort and settled the ‘bazar’ (market) of Azmatgarh in Pargana Sagri,” says the official website of Azamgarh.
Other districts, according to their respective websites, which have been named after the kin or associates of Mughal rulers include Moradabad (named after Shahjahan’s son Murad Baksh) and Muzaffarnagar (named after Sayyid Muzaffar Khan, the commander who served the Mughals during the reign of Shah Jahan).
As some Hindu organisations have been suggesting that Mughal or British rulers had strategically changed the names of many towns to target Indian culture, they are out to give a cultural twist to renaming of places.
“We are not against anybody. Our freedom-fighters laid down their lives to win Independence. Many towns have names after Mughal rulers. It is high time our cities got back their ancient names and identity,” said Shivdash, a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the in-charge of works at Karsevakpuram in Ayodhya.
A demand to rename Faizabad, the district headquarters of Ayodhya, is also pending.
Right wing organisations want Faizabad to be renamed as Saket, Aligarh as Harigarh and Muzaffarnagar as Lakshminagar.
In Aligarh, BJP leaders are seen riding vehicles having Harigarh written on them.
BJP’s Muzaffarnagar district president Sudhir Saini said: “Hindu organisations have been demanding change in the name of Muzaffarnagar as they believe the place was once known as Laxminagar.”The suggestion to rename Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, was also made by Bihar governor Lalji Tandon in his book ‘Ankaha Lucknow’ (Untold Lucknow). “Lucknow was originally named Laxmanavati, then Laxmanpur and Lakhnavati, before finally being named Lucknow,” the book says.
S Farman Naqvi, an advocate and a resident of Allahabad, said: “Chief minister Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj only in five days. After the Board of Revenue passed a resolution on the issue on October 15, the state cabinet cleared it the next day. The state government notified change of name on October 18 and the district magistrate did so on October 20.”
“Local people were not consulted on the issue. This means someone sitting at a far-off place decided the future of the people of Allahabad. The CM recently changed the name of Urdu Bazar in Gorakhpur to Hindi Bazar. He is obviously pushing a communal agenda,” he said. In August this year, the Yogi government had renamed Mughalsarai city and railway junction after BJP ideologue Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
“Names that are symbols of slavery should be named after patriots,” said Prabhu Narain, Awadh Prant Sanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
After coming to power in March 2017, the Yogi government changed the names of a number of projects and schemes. Besides dropping ‘Samajwadi’ from the Purvanchal Expressway project of the Akhilesh Yadav government, it renamed ‘Samajwadi Pension Scheme’ as ‘Mukhya Mantri Pension Scheme’.
This is not for the first time that the governments are indulging in politics of name change. In the last two decades, successive state governments have changed the names of institutions, schemes/projects and districts.
The Samajwadi Party government had decided to reverse a number of BSP government’s decisions on name change.
The Samajwadi Party government had restored the name of King George’s Medical University that was renamed as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University by the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government.