Yogi’s second term to see renaming of several more districts, cities

The Yogi Adityanath government, which recently won a second term in Uttar Pradesh, is likely to rename several more districts and cities, according to reports.

The administration is considering rechristening at least a dozen places and is soon likely to table a proposal in this regard in the assembly.

The government might first consider renaming Aligarh, Farrukhabad, Badaun, Sultanpur, Ferozabad and Shahjahanpur. It has already received proposals from legislators, MPs and zila panchayat boards of these districts. Among the cities that could be renamed is Deoband, whose legislator Brijesh Kumar has suggested ‘Deovrind’ as the new name.

According to officials, the zila panchayat of Aligarh has sent a proposal to rename the district as Harigarh or Aryagarh. Similar demand has been raised from Sultanpur district, to rename it as Kushbhawanpur. Former BJP legislator of Sultanpur, Deomani Diwedi, was the first to raise his voice for it. The former legislator of Gazipur had demanded renaming of the district as Gadhipuri while the Adityanath himself had stated during the election campaign that Badaun district be known as Vedmau.

In its first tenure in UP, the Adityanath government had changed the name of Faizabad to Ayodhya and Allahabad to Prayagraj. It also recommended the Union government to rename the Mughalsarai Junction as Deendayal Uppadhya, which was accepted.

Also in the first tenure, the proposal to change the name of Ferozabad district to Chandranagar and Shahjahanpur to Shajipur was mooted by local representatives. In August last year, the zila panchayat board of Mainpuri district had asked the state to rename it as Mayanpuri. The demand to rename Agra as Agravan is decades old.