The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved the state government’s decision to change the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj and resolved to write to the Centre to rename central institutions in the district accordingly.
“Allahabad will be known as Prayagraj from today (Tuesday). We are also writing to the central agencies to make changes in the names of their institutions accordingly,” said Sidharth Nath Singh, state health minister and spokesperson for the Yogi Adityanath government.
If the Centre approves, the University of Allahabad will be rechristened University of Prayagraj and Allahabad High Court will become Prayagraj High Court.
In August, Indian Railways had renamed Mughalsarai Junction after Deendayal Upadhyay on the request of the state’s BJP government, which had earlier changed the name of the city in honour of the Jana Sangh founder and RSS ideologue.
During a trip to Allahabad on October 13, chief minister Adityanath had told a gathering of sadhus that the city and the district would be renamed Prayagraj before the Ardh Kumbh Mela that will begin in January.
The decision evoked a strong reaction from Markandeya Katju, a retired Supreme Court judge who lives in Allahabad.
Congratulating Adityanath sarcastically for the move, Katju tweeted on Monday: “We must follow this up and eradicate the names of Babur ki Aulads (descendents of Babur) from all our cities to get rid of our shame. Hence I recommend to the Central and the State Governments to change the names of all Indian cities named after Babur ki Aulads.”
Sections of the RSS, BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had in the early 1980s raised the slogan of “Naam mitado Babur ka, Babur ki auladon ka (erase the name of Babur and his descendants)”.
Katju mentioned 30 cities and suggested possible new names.
The retired judge suggested that Farrukhabad be named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Narendramodinagar) and Aligarh after Union finance minister Arun Jaitley (Arunjaitleynagar).
The other name changes suggested by Katju are for Faridabad (Yogiadityanathnagar), Ahmedabad (Ashtavkranagar), Agra (Agastyanagar), Bhopal (Rajabhojpal), Ghaziabad (Ghatothkachnagar), Moradabad (Mann Ki Baat Nagar) and Secunderabad (Satisavitrinagar). Mann Ki Baat is a radio show that Prime Minister Modi addresses once a month.
Sidharth Nath Singh told reporters in Lucknow that by changing the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj, the Uttar Pradesh government would be able to popularise Indian culture in the world.