Yogi: Allahabad to be Prayagraj soon

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, October 15

Stirring a hornet’s nest, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today reiterated that if there is a consensus, Allahabad will be renamed as Prayagraj before the Kumbh early next year.

During a visit to Allahabad on October 13, Yogi had announced that there was a proposal to rename the city  ahead of the Kumbh Mela.

Reacting sharply to Yogi’s suggestion, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav accused the government of messing with tradition and faith. According to Yadav, renaming places was the only work that the present government had to show.

In a tweet, Yadav said, “Raja Harshvardhan made Prayag Kumbh famous but the present dispensation wants to show its work by merely changing the name to Prayagraj. They have even changed the name of Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is messing with tradition and faith.”

Minister of Power Shrikant Sharma claimed that on the contrary, the belief of people was hurt when the city was named Allahabad. “The objections are baseless. 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.”

Congress spokesperson Onkar Singh also opposed the BJP government’s proposal to rename Allahabad, saying the region around Sangam where the Kumbh is held is already named Prayag, literally meaning confluence, a name which has continued from time immemorial.

On nomenclature

• In Sept 2017, a demand to rename Allahabad was first made before Yogi by a delegation of Akhada Parishad. UP Governor Ram Naik came forward to support the demand
• Earlier, the Yogi govt changed the name of Mughalsarai railway station to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction