Lucknow, Aug 8 If Uttar Pradesh ministers and legislators have their way, nearly a dozen districts and towns will get new names in the coming months.
Minister of State for Secondary Education Gulab Devi has demanded that her home district of Sambhal be renamed as Prithviraj Nagar or Kalki Nagar.
"There is a demand for renaming Sambhal in different areas in the district. A large number of people came to meet me and I have assured them to convey their demand to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. I propose to meet the Chief Minister on August 12 and convey the feelings of the people," said Gulab Devi.
The Firozabad district panchayat has already passed a resolution seeking that the name of the district be changed to Chandra Nagar.
BJP MLA Devmani Dwivedi has already been demanding that the name of Sultanpur be changed to Kushbhawanpur.
"I have already raised the demand to rename Sultanpur as Kushbhawanpur in the state assembly earlier. This city was founded by Lord Ram's son Kush. I have requested the chief minister for an early appointment to enable me to place the demand before him," said Dwivedi, who represents the Lambhua Assembly constituency of Sultanpur.
Sultanpur district's official website also supports Dwivedi's claims.
It reads: "The original town was situated on the left bank of the Gomti. It is said to have been founded by Kush, son of Lord Ram, and is said to have been named after him as Kushpur or Kushbhawanpur. This ancient city has been identified by General Cunnigham with the Kushpur mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese traveller."
Brijesh Singh, the BJP MLA from Deoband Assembly seat of Saharanpur, has also demanded that the name of Deoband be changed to Devvrand.
Deoband is known for the seat of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom. He said the place had been referred to as Devvrand in ancient Hindu scriptures.
"I will meet the Chief Minister during the monsoon session of state legislature commencing on August 17," he said.
Manvendra Singh, BJP MLA from the Dadraul Assembly constituency of Shahjahanpur, said that the people of his constituency want the name of Shahjahanpur to be changed to Shajipur, the other name of Bhamashah, a close aide of Maharana Pratap.
Vir Vikram Singh 'Prince', another BJP MLA from Shahjahanpur said he had raised the demand to rename Khudaganj block of his district.
He said the process to rename the block had already begun.
"I met Chief Mminister Yogi Adityanath recently and demanded that Khudaganj should be renamed after freedom fighter Thakur Roshan Singh who along with Ram Prasad 'Bismil' was hanged for his involvement in the Kakori bank dacoity case," he said.
Alka Rai, BJP MLA from Mohammadabad Assembly constituency of Ghazipur, has sought the renaming of Ghazipur as Gadhipuri, on the ground that it was the capital of Maharishi Vishwamitra's father king Gadhi in ancient India and later renamed after an aide of Mohammad Bin Tughlaq.
"We will also push for change of name of Muhammadabad assembly constituency as Dhara Nagar, as the area is mentioned in ancient scriptures," she said.
There is also a demand to rename Muzaffarnagar as Laxmi Nagar.
The Yogi Adityanath government has already changed the names of Allahabad to Prayagraj and Faizabad to Ayodhya while Mughalsarai has been renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar.
The state government has recently recommended naming the Jhansi railway station after Rani Laxmi Bai.
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