The Assam government will launch a portal in a week’s time seeking people’s suggestions and justification for changing the names of places that they feel do not reflect the state’s culture, tradition or sentiments.
“The decision will be based on the suggestions of the people. It is common people who will suggest changes and create new names. The Deputy Commissioner of the district will then go to get firsthand knowledge of the sentiments of the people and then take necessary steps to initiate change,” the chief minister said. Himanta Biswa Sarma who was in Majuli on Wednesday to file his nomination for the prestigious Majuli constituency, which goes to the bypolls to be held on March 7.
CM also tweeted regarding this matter.
There is a lot in a name. The name of a city, town or village should represent its culture, tradition and civilization.
We will launch a portal to invite suggestions on name change across Assam which is contrary to our civilization, culture and is derogatory to any caste or community.
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 16, 2022
The Congress, reacting to Sarma’s statements, called him a misguided strategy.
“When the government fails to initiate holistic development, it engages in such activities to divert issues to keep people engaged. We have seen this in UP when Yogi failed to give anything and kept on changing the names of the places. it’s a pure Uttar Pradesh Model, This is baseless and if the government wants to do something constructive, let it revive the defunct, defunct industries including the paper mills of Nagaon and Cachar. There are 11 big and 22 small scale industries in the state which are not working. Education, cutting and communication are the areas in which the government should bring changes and not the names of places” said Aminul Islam, senior Congress leader and MLA from Dhing, Nagaon.
On February 14, Himanta Biswa Sarma, while participating in the Bhoomi Pujan of the Second Medical College located at Kalapahar, Guwahati, had said that this name would have to be removed. “I have urged the local MLA to consult the people and suggest a suitable name,” he said.
Kalapahar was named after a Muslim general of the Bengal Sultanate. He was responsible for the attack on the famous Shaktipeeth Kamakhya temple. The Chief Minister said that there are some places which the people of the locality do not want to be named. In some communities there are places that have been named because of malice. It has to change.”
In September 2021, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park—the state’s oldest game reserve, located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra—as Orang National Park.
“In UP we have seen that the name of Allahabad has been changed to Prayagraj. After the BJP came to power, the names of roads like Akbar Road and Shahjahan Road in Delhi were changed,” Leader of Opposition in Assam Debabrata Saikia said. We do not deny history, we have read in our books that Kalapahar has Destroyed. Kamakhya temple. But it is part of history and we need to accept it.”
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