Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decision to re-christen Mutafabad in the state’s Lakhimpur Kheri district to Kabirdham, seers in Ayodhya demanded re-christening of several localities in the temple town which had Islamic names.
Prominent seer and Mahant of the famous Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya Raju Das has asked the district administration to rename the localities having Islamic names with names having Sanatan identity.
The Mahant said that there were several localities near the Ram Temple in Ayodhya which had Islamic names such as ‘Quaziana, Urdu Bazar, Kaniganj’.
‘’Ayodhya is a town of temples and mutts and therefore the names of the localities must also be according to the Sanatan traditions…..Islam has no place in Lord Rama’s town,’’ he said.
‘’The administration should rechristen these localities after Lord Rama, Parshuram and Lord Mahavira,’’ Raju Das said.
The Mahant appealed to his disciples and local people to raise their voice on this issue and asked them to launch a campaign for the same.
He also warned the administration that the names must be changed within 15 days else he would, along with his supporters, remove the sign boards containing the Islamic names in the town and replace them with the names having Sanatan identity.
The Mahant also claimed support of other seers and the local people on this issue.
Former BJP MP and senior saffron leader Ram Vilas Vedanti also said that many of these names were added during the Mughal rule and they must be changed now.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and a group of seers have also demanded removal of the Idgah Mosque in Sohawal, a few km away from Ayodhya, to widen a link road. VHP workers and seers have also embarked upon a dharna to press their demand.
Barely a few days back Adityanath had declared that the name of Mustafabad in Lakhimpur Kheri district would be renamed Kabirdham.
Earlier the state government had re-christened Faizabad as Ayodhya. The BJP government, since it came to power in 2017, has changed the names of several places, which had Islamic names, in the state and rechristened them after Hindu icons and gods.