Suggestions have started to pour in from local residents as well as political leaders for renaming the newly-inaugurated Simpson Park following a controversy.

Right from teenage martyr Subhas Barla to Gautam Buddha to former MLA Teklal Mahto, local residents have started coming up with names despite the fact that district administration has not taken any decision so far regarding the matter.

Sachidanand Pandey, descendant of freedom fighter Jai Mangal Pandey, had demanded removal of Captain’s Simpon’s name, saying that he was a brutal British officer and was behind the hanging of 150 freedom fighters. Jai Mangal had led an agitation in 1857 against Britishers in Chatra after which he was hanged by Simpson. Sachidanand had also threatened to launch a stir if his demands were not met.

Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader Purushottam Singh demanded renaming it as Subhas Barla Park. Barla was only 19-years-old when he died fighting militants as a CRPF jawan in Srinagar on March 13, 2013. His statue was installed on Baba Path, in memory of his bravery and sacrifice for the country. Singh said naming this park on the young martyr will help youth get inspired by him.

Bablu Kushwaha, district president of Akhil Bhartiya Kushwaha Samaj, said seeing the park named after a brutal English officer like Captain Simpson made him understand that the district administration officers were still slaves of the British. He said that he wanted the name to be replaced with Gautam Buddha, which will soothe the anger seen in the town at present against the officials.

JMM leader Mohammad Salim said, “Former Mandu MLA and ex-Giridih Parliamentarian late Teklal Mahto was a great leader of the state. He won a number of times from the Mandu Assembly seat and is an important figure in the formation of the JMM. Seeing his contribution, I demanded from the administration to name this park after Mahto.”

Akin to Sachidanand, Hazaribagh Nagrik Manch (HNM) has also threatened to launch an agitation if the name is not changed. HNM activists Manmit Akela, Arvind Rana and

Anup Bhai Verma said they had demanded permission from the administration to launch a one-day signature campaign on June 21 so as to get maximum support from the local people for immediate removal of Simpson’s name from the park.

“We even applied for permission to stage a dharna on June 22 in support of the demand,” they added.

Senior Congress leader R.C Prasad Mehta said the anger against the administration is “genuine” as naming a park after a British officer, who was behind the killing of 150 freedom fighters, is not tolerable. He said that the administration should take an immediate decision in this regard.

State president of Brahaman Mahasangh Sunil Kumar Pandey said naming a park after Simpson was a symbol of slavery, adding that it was an insult to the freedom fighters, who had sacrificed their lives for the country.

As a deputy commissioner in 1857, Simpson was behind the construction of the pond opposite his residence near District Mor Chowk in Hazaribagh town. Deputy development commissioner Vijaya Jadhav not only got the pond cleaned but also managed to raise Rs.1.5-crore fund to get it renovated into a park, which was inaugurated on Sunday night.

Jadhav had earned accolades for her work, however, she also courted controversy over the name as it sparked anger among the residents of the town.