The Yogi government is likely to rename Aligarh to Harigarh as it continues the BJP’s initiative to revive the civilisational identity of cities which had names from the Mughal era. The Aligarh Municipal Corporation on 6th November unanimously passed a proposal to change the city’s name to Harigarh.
The proposal was presented by Mayor Prashant Singhal in a meeting and was supported by all councillors. The proposal now awaits a green signal from the Uttar Pradesh government.
Speaking about the same, the Mayor said, “In a meeting yesterday, a proposal was presented to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh. All councillors unanimously supported this. Now, this proposal will be sent to the administration. I hope that the administration will take cognizance of this and fulfil our demand to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh…This demand has been being raised for a long time…”
#WATCH | Aligarh, UP: On the proposal of changing the name of Aligarh, Prashant Singhal, Mayor of Aligarh, says, "In a meeting yesterday, a proposal was presented to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh. All councillors unanimously supported this. Now, this proposal will be… pic.twitter.com/3V0RlwtGKl
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) November 7, 2023
According to Navbharat Times, opposition councillors reacted strongly in objection to the proposal and war words ensued over the same. However, with the BJP councillors in the majority, the proposal was passed in the meeting which lasted around 11 hours.
In 2019, the Yogi government renamed Allahabad to Prayagraj. In February this year, BJP MP Sangam Lal Gupta raised the demand to change the name of UP capital Lucknow to Lakhanpur or Laxmanpur.
Maharashtra also renamed the city of Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad to Dharashiv. In the capital Delhi, Aurangzeb Lane was renamed to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Lane in June this year. The Aurangzeb Road that runs parallel to the lane was also renamed in 2015 to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
Many cities in India continued to be named after Mughal tyrants who plundered, enslaved, assaulted, and committed unspeakable atrocities against the Hindu masses.
Under the Yogi government, the name of Prayagraj was changed from the earlier name Allahabad and the name of the earlier district Faizabad was changed to Ayodhya district.
