“Muslim sounding names” of the UP’s Gorakhpur wards were changed

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) 4th Sep : The Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation has changed thesounding Muslim names of around dozen wards through the issue of an unofficial draft delimitation order.

According to sources from the official, the change of names was part of the delimitation exercise where the number of Wards was increased to around 80 in Gorakhpur, with several of them named after famous people and freedom fighters.A senior official has said that individuals can file objections within a week , and after their deliberations the delimitation is approved.

Samajwadi Party leader and Ismailpur corporation president Shahab Ansari claimed that the changing of names is a strategy to create the polarisation of the country.Ansari said that the party will have a meeting in this direction and a delegation will meet with the district magistrate to make an objections on Monday.

Congress chairman Talat Aziz criticized the name-changing exercise an inefficient use of money."I do not understand what the government is hoping to achieve by this process," the leader asked.

However the Mayor Sitaram Jaiswal said new names create a sense of pride.He said that wards were named after famous people such as Ashfaqullah Khan, Shiv Singh Chetri, Baba Gambhir Nath, Baba Raghavdas, Dr Rajendra Prasad and Madan Mohan Malviya.

Municipal Commissioner Avinash Singh said that objections can be submitted within one week to the additional chief secretary of the Urban Development Department, Lucknow.After the decision of the objections the delimitation will be ratified, he said.

Some of names which have changed are Miya Bazar, Muftipur, Alinagar, Turkmanpur, Ismailpur, Rassolpur, Humayunpur North, Ghosipurva, Daudpur, Jafra Bazar, Qazipur Khurd and Chaksa Hussain -- all "muslim sounding" names.In accordance with the decision that was issued by the civic authority, Ilahi Bagh will now be known as Bandhu Singh Nagar, Ismailpur as Sahabganj and Jafra Bazar as Atma Ram Nagar.

As an aside, Gorakhpur is the home town of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.amita/dp.