Aurangabad, July 12:
Aurangabad Namantar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (ANVSS) took out a mega silent procession in the city on Tuesday in protest against the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar.
Leaders and activists of different political and social organisations formed an umbrella organisation ANVSS for the agitation.
The procession began from Jubilee Park after the garlanding statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at around 3 pm. The procession reached Aam Khas Ground through Town Hall flyover. The procession turned into a public meeting when it reached Aam Khas ground in the evening.
Shareque Naqshabandi, Gangadhar Dhage, Ayyub Jagirdar, Sanjay Jagtap, former corporator Naser Siddiqui, Abdul Shakur Salar, Mohsin Ahmed, Kunal Kharat and others led the agitation. Braving the rains, youths participated in the procession in large numbers. The leaders criticised Congress, NCP, BJP and Sena for the renaming of the city.
The slogans like ‘Mi Aurangabadkar’ were raised. The participants were also holding tri-colour and placards mentioning ‘I Love Aurangabad, Mi Aurangabadcha- Aurangabad Majha’. A delegation submitted a memorandum to Government and Chief Minister through the divisional commissioner. There was a tight police bandobast for the morcha. Some of the leaders who want to contest the AMC election demonstrated their strength.