PHOTO COURTESY: THE GUARDIAN
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that the historic Indian city of Allahabad would be renamed Prayagraj, The Guardian reported.
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“The city used to be known as Prayagraj since the beginning. To those who are opposing the decision, how would you feel if the name your parents gave you was to be changed,” Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh told newsmen.
Allahabad, the ancestral home of the Nehrus, is also the venue of the Kumbh Mela -- a mega Hindu festival that attracts millions. Doing away with the Mughal-era name of the city has been a longstanding demand of Hindu nationalists. The Mughals, according to them, were outsiders. The overwhelming majority of the officially-secular nation's political parties, however, emphasise its composite culture.
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The move is by no means unprecedented. Under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, names dating back to the Mughal era have been changed. In 2017, the Mughalsarai Railway Station was renamed after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
Uttar Pradesh Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma said more would follow. "It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified."
This article originally appeared in The Guardian.
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