The name-changing spree in Uttar Pradesh continues as the Zila panchayat of Aligarh on Monday passed a resolution seeking to change the city’s name to Harigarh, calling it a “long-pending demand”.
“We had a meeting of Zila Panchayat Board yesterday. Some proposals were passed in the meeting, the first proposal was about renaming Aligarh to Harigarh. It was passed unanimously. We’ve sent it to the CM, I hope it’ll be approved,” said Aligarh District Panchayat President Vijay Singh.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the proposal was passed in the first meeting without any opposition with 50 out of 72 members in attendance. Another proposal was passed to name the Aligarh airport after BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who was a resident of Aligarh and the chief minister of the state during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Meanwhile, the Zila panchayat of Mainpuri too passed a resolution seeking to rename Mainpuri as Mayan Nagar after sage Mayan who founded the present-day Mainpuri, according to the report. Notably, Mainpuri is the bastion of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has won five elections from the constituency.
Earlier this month, the Firozabad district panchayat had passed a resolution demanding that Firozabad be renamed as Chandra Nagar. As per the beliefs of locals, King Chandrasen lived in Firozabad and because of this it was earlier known as Chandravar Nagar till about 1560 AD.
Ever since the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government came to power in 2017, it has changed the names of Allahabad to Prayagraj, Faizabad to Ayodhya and Mughalsarai to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar. It recently recommended changing the name of Jhansi railway station after Rani Laxmi Bai.
The name-changing spree of the UP government has been facing severe criticism from the Opposition, which has alleged that the government was more focused changing names rather than development the state.
