Yogi govt likely to rename Firozabad to Chandranagar

Lucknow: Amid the demand from saffron outfits for re-christening cities and towns having Muslim names, the Uttar Pradesh government is likely to change the name of Firozabad, popularly known as the 'bangle city', to Chandranagar.

The Firozabad Municipal Corporation had adopted a resolution to this effect on Friday. The proposal to re-christen Firozabad has been sent to the state government for its approval.

There are indications that the state government may rename more cities and towns having Muslim names ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to be held in 2024.

The Mayor of Firozabad Municipal Corporation Kamini Rathore said that the town's old name was Chandranagar as it was ruled by king Chandrasen. ''Chandranagar was changed to Firozabad during the Mughal period after one of the Mughal military commanders Firoz Shah defeated Chandrasen,'' she said.  

Earlier the Aligarh Municipal Corporation had adopted a resolution recommending to rename Aligarh as Harigarh. The resolution was tabled by BJP corporator Sanjay Pandit and was supported by the saffron party members. The opposition members vehemently opposed the resolution. 

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, in his first stint as CM, had rechristened Faizabad district as Ayodhya, the railway station as Ayodhya Cantt and Allahabad as Prayagraj. The Mughalsarai and Jhansi railways stations were also renamed to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar and Veerangana Laxmi Bai, respectively.

Earlier around a dozen municipal wards with Muslim names were renamed after Hindu leaders, seers and poets in Gorakhpur, the home town of Yogi Adityanath. The saffron outfits have demanded to rechristen Sultanpur as Kush Bhavanpur, Mainpuri as Mayan Nagar, Firozabad as Chandranagar and Mirzapur as Vindhya Dham.

Besides, they have also demanded to rechristen Agra as Agravan and Muzaffarnagar as Luxmi Nagar. Adityanath had, while addressing public meetings before the Lok Sabha bypoll at Azamgarh last year, hinted at changing the name of the district to 'Aryangarh'. 

UP deputy chief minister Brijesh Pathak had also earlier hinted at renaming Lucknow after Lord Rama's brother Laxman. 

The opposition parties have termed the name changing proposals as ''electoral gimmicks''.