Lucknow: Under the delimitation exercise of Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Mian Bazar has been renamed as ‘Maya Bazar’, Humayunpur as ‘Hanumant Nagar’, Rasulpur as ‘Maharana Pratap Nagar’ and Jafra Bazar as ‘Atma Ram Nagar’. can go.
While 10 wards are to be added to the existing 70, the exercise also proposes to regroup around 245 mohallas into wards. But what has added to the difficulties of the opposition is the proposal to change the names of those wards which have ‘Muslim’ and ‘Persian’ names.
Around 50 wards, including 10 new wards, are to be named after Hindu deities, freedom fighters and other historical figures. This has fueled allegations by the opposition that it became the first-time Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur since the revamping of previous campaigns by now-chief minister Yogi Adityanath. nineteen ninety eight,
At that time, Yogi had led a campaign demanding that ‘Urdu Bazaar’ be renamed as ‘Hindi Bazaar’ and ‘Ali Nagar’ as ‘Arya Nagar’. In 2018, the Yogi government had approved to change the name of Faizabad and Allahabad Like Ayodhya and Prayagraj.
While the Samajwadi Party has alleged that the exercise was done by civic officials to “appease” the government, the BJP claims the opposition was labeled “malicious” as it had nothing to do with any caste or religion. was.
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What is exercise?
On August 31, the Gorakhpur civic body had issued a notification proposing delimitation of municipal wards and sought a response within seven days. However, the notification came under criticism after the proposed name went viral.
In the notification received by ThePrint, 49 of the total 80 wards have new names. The names of the 10 new wards are Baba Raghavdas Nagar, Baba Gambhirnath Nagar, Ranidiha, Madan Mohan Malviya Nagar, Bagdo, Sanjhai, Dr Rajendra Prasad Nagar, Matsyendra Nagar and Mohanpur.
If approved by the government, these wards would include several areas with Muslim or Persian names, including Salempur, Umarpur, Suba Bazar and Nooruddinchak.
Similarly, the new names of the existing wards include Sardar Bhagat Singh Nagar, Shaheed Shiv Singh Chhetri Nagar, Hanumant Nagar, Ramprasad Bismil Nagar, Shaheed Ashfaqullah Nagar, Maharana Pratap Nagar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Bandhu Singh Nagar, Sant Jhulelal Nagar, Raghupati Sahai Firaq. Huh. Nagar, Geeta Press Nagar, Atmaram Nagar, Vishwakarmapuram, Maya Bazar, Arya Nagar, Kanha Upvan Nagar, Ghantaghar, Shivaji Nagar and Devi Prasad Nagar.
Mohaddipur, Turkmanpur, Rasulpur, Dilekpur, Niyamchak, Elahibagh, Daudchak, Daudpur, Rustampur, Jafra Bazar, Alinagar, Humayunpur, Abu Bazar, Islamchak, Miyanbazar, Muftipur, Shahmaruf, Dhammal, Askarganj, Chaksa will be in many areas including Hussain. be regrouped and get new names according to the ward they fall in.
A municipal area is divided into wards, which in turn comprise a number of areas.
The corporators of the Samajwadi Party claim that the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation officials are only trying to “please” Yogi by indulging in “Hindu-Muslim politics”.
On Monday, a delegation of SP councilors raised slogans protesting the move at the office of Gorakhpur Municipal Commissioner Avinash Singh before handing over a memorandum to Singh.
“When Yogi was an MP from here, he regularly ran a campaign and agitated to rename Urdu Bazar to Hindi Bazar, Ali Nagar to Arya Nagar and Miyan Bazar to Maya Nagar. Municipal corporation officials are ready to change the names of the wards to appease them,” SP spokesperson Kirti Nidhi Pandey told media persons after the protest.
“If the wards were to be named after freedom fighters, why was Mangal Pandey, the first freedom fighter forgotten? If names of saints like Digvijay Nath were kept, why did Roshan Ali, Shaheed Abdullah Ansari, Shaheed Sardar Ali Khan be forgotten? He further said, “Why was no ward named after Vindhyavasini Verma? Those personalities associated with Gorakhpur were ignored and the name was changed only to engage in Hindu-Muslim politics…”
Ismailpur corporator and SP leader Shahab Ansari said the BJP leaders “conspired” with the municipal authorities to change the names of the wards. He also claimed that the corporators were not consulted before coming up with the proposal.
“While we have agreed to rename the wards after the freedom fighters, the old wards have been renamed with wrong names. For example, the historically used Miyan Bazaar has been renamed as Maya Bazaar,” Ansari said. “We have spoken to the corporators. Those who disagree with the names will file an objection.”
Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation chief Avinash Singh told the media that the corporation tried to send the proposal after everyone’s consent and consent. He said that efforts have been made to ensure participation with the public as all the activities of the Municipal Corporation are people oriented.
“But still, if anyone has any objection, we will consider it…” he said.
Claiming that the opposition was misinformed, the BJP cited the example of Ashfaqullah Khan Nagar, insisting that the exercise focused only on “signs of oppression under British and Mughal rule”.
Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told ThePrint that the aim was on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day pitch to break out of the slavery mentality. He said the name change was aimed at removing the signs of oppressive British and Mughal rule.
“The opposition is not aware. There is nothing related to Hindu-Muslim divide or any particular caste or religion here. We have also recognized freedom fighter Ashfaqullah Khan after whom a ward has been named. The names have been kept keeping in mind the sentiments of the people and there is no need to talk to any political party in this regard.
(Edited by Tony Rae)
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