BJP leaders clamour for name changing, but Yogi firm on agenda

Even as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath focuses on a 100-day work plan for every Ministry, BJP Ministers and legislators apparently have other plans to enhance their popularity.

BJP Ministers and legislators have started writing letters to the Chief Minister's office seeking change of names for colleges and districts.

Uttar Pradesh Minister Kapil Dev Aggarwal has sent a letter requesting Yogi Adityanath to restore the names of two engineering colleges in Banda and Bijnore districts after B.R. Ambedkar.

In the letter, the Minister has also urged the Chief Minister to rename two other engineering colleges in Azamgarh and Ambedkar Nagar after the Dalit icon on Ambedkar Jayanti, which falls on April 14.

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The four engineering colleges were established between 2010-2011 during the term of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati as the Chief Minister. Sources in the Technical Education department said the colleges were established under a 'special component plan' launched by the Centre for the upliftment of weaker sections of the society.

While the two colleges in Banda and Bijnore were called Bhim Rao Ambedkar Engineering College of Information Technology, the ones in Azamgarh and Ambedkar Nagar were named after BSP founder Kanshi Ram -- Manyavar Kanshi Ram Engineering College of Information and Technology.

However, the names of the four colleges were changed to Rajkiya Engineering College (State Engineering College) in 2015 by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government.

BJP leader Kapil Dev Aggarwal said, "I feel that these icons should not be associated with any caste and thus I decided to request Yogi Adityanath to restore the names of these engineering colleges as a tribute to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary."

Vinod Singh, a BJP MLA from Sultanpur, has also written to Yogi Adityanath to rename Sultanpur as Kushbhawanpur.

Taking forward an earlier request made by former BJP MLA Deomani Dwivedi, Vinod Singh said in his letter that Sultanpur was named by Ala-ud-din Khilji who wanted to promote his culture.

In 2021, Uttar Pradesh Minister Gulab Devi had demanded that the name of her home district Sambhal be changed to Prithviraj Nagar or Kalki Nagar.

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She had said, "There is a demand to change the name of Sambhal in different areas of the district."

The Firozabad district panchayat committee also passed a resolution in a meeting in 2021, demanding that the district be renamed as Chandranagar.

BJP MLA and now a cabinet Minister, Brijesh Singh from Deoband, has also demanded to change the name of Deoband to Devvrand.

Deoband is known for Islamic seminary Darul Uloom.

Brajesh Singh says, "In ancient Hindu scriptures, this place is called Devavrand. I will try to give Deoband a pristine name."

Manvendra Singh, a BJP MLA from Shahjahanpur's Dadraul constituency, says that the people of his area want Shahjahanpur to be renamed Shajipur, which is another name for Bhamashah, a close aide of Maharana Pratap.

A senior official in the Chief Minister's secretariat denied that there was any move to change the names of districts or other places.

"The Chief Minister is focussing on his development agenda and there has been no talk of name changing as yet," he said.

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