Speculations are rife that the name of Agra may soon be changed to Agravan after historians and experts were asked to look into the circumstances in which the name of the city was changed in the past, reports say. Expert advice has been sought from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University in Agra.
“We have received a letter from the state government to look for historical evidence if Agra city was known by any other name. We have begun the research and will reply to the letter,” confirmed Prof Sugam Anand, head of the department of history at the University. “We have merely been asked for historical facts related to name of Agra in the past and we are just complying with the same. There is nothing more than that,” he added.
Read: Congress opposes Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to rename Allahabad to Prayagraj
Last year, BJP MLA from Agra North, Jagan Prasad Garg, had requested the Chief Minister to change the name of the city to Agravan soon after Faizabad and Allahabad were renamed as Ayodhya and Prayagraj respectively. “The region was initially known as Agravan and finds such a mention in the Mahabharat. But in the course of time, the city was named as Akbarabad. Later, it became ‘Agra’, which has no specific meaning and thus its name should be revived to Agravan,” the MLA had said.
Yogi Adityanath has aggressively defended his policy of restoring the names of important cities in the past following criticism from usual quarters. Given his record, it is no wonder that the inquiries made are already creating a flurry of speculations.