Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi Railway Station Renamed, Yet Another Landmark Name Change By Yogi Govt

The 2022 assembly elections is less than six months away in Uttar Pradesh and the Government keeps planning to change the names of its cities, districts, railway stations to their older versions or relate them to their historical or cultural evidence. The state government spends a big amount on changing these names as they have to alter these names in all the public places like schools, colleges, bus stands, railways stations, office stationery of the State Government, maps, signboards, etc. According to a report by India Today, Government spent more than Rs 300 Crore when the name of Allahabad was changed to Prayagraj.

Change In The Name Of Jhansi's Railway Station

There's this new proposal that the Uttar Pradesh's government has come up with that asks for changing the name of Jhansi railway station to the warrior queen of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai who was the major freedom fighter in India's first war of Independence in 1857. According to the report by the Times of India, the Jhansi railway station has been renamed 'Veerangana Laxmibai Railway Station'.

Jhansi's MP Anurag Sharma said that "the proposal was already made two years ago where the representative of Bundelkhand region was present. The decision was addressed in the minutes of the meeting and has been sent to the State Government"

CM has been saying that the Government would keep changing the names wherever they find it a need to change.

Change In The Name Of Badaun District

CM Yogi Adityanath talked about changing the name of Badaun district to Vedamau at a public rally in Sahaswan in Badaun. He said, "this land was famous for the study of Vedas in ancient times, Maharshi Bhagirathi had also prayed here and it was Bhagirathi who had brought Ganga to this land. This district was known as Vedamau earlier." His supporters added that all these names were changed when there was Muslim rule, now it's the time to restore the older names of these places.

As per the report of The Deccan Herald, a BJP leader mentioned that there are proposals sent for the changing names of Sultanpur as Kush Bhavanpur, Aligarh as Harigarh, Manipuri as Mayan Nagar, Firozabad as Chandra Nagar and Mirzapur as Vindhya Dham. The opposite parties state these changing of names as "electoral gimmicks" so that they can hide their failures as a State Government.

Change In The Name Of Faizabad Railway Station

The office of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath tweeted on October 23, 2021, that the state government has decided to rename Faizabad railway station to Ayodhya Cantt railway station. Earlier in 2018, Faizabad was renamed Ayodhya. Also, the Government changed Allahabad's name to Paryagraj and Mughalsarai railway junction's name to Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction.

The opposition called this move "playing with Hindu's sentiments" for achieving political goals. To which the CM justified that it's an attempt to "restore the rich historical and cultural identity" of the place. Some of the political analysts are also trying to relate Hindutva with this wave of changing names of different places of Uttar Pradesh just before the 2022 assembly elections.

As per Raj Bahadur Saxena who is a retired professor of Economics at Kanpur University, "Most districts where name changes are being demanded that are related to the Muslim community. By doing these in the name of Hindu saints and ancestors, the agenda of Hindutva is being carried forward."

Also Read: 'Release Kalicharan Maharaj' Trends On Twitter After Arrest Over Controversial Remarks Against Mahatma Gandhi