Aurangzeb Road, Delhi renamed after APJ Abdul Kalam: Kejriwal

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Aug 28: Delhi’s most elite addresses, Aurangzeb Road, will be renamed after former president APJ Abdul Kalam, and it was announced on Friday by someone who was not involved in the decision - Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"Congrats. NDMC jst now decided to rename Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road," tweeted Mr Kejriwal, who has been locked in a fierce turf war with the Centre over who controls the reins of the capital.

The decision was taken by the civic body in charge of central Delhi, after an all-clear from the union home ministry.

 

Within an hour, Mr Kejriwal’s comment had been re-tweeted over 900 times and favourited 600 times. Many comments accused him of taking credit for a BJP lawmaker’s proposal.

The BJP’s Mahesh Girri wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month suggesting that Aurangzeb Road should be named after Dr Kalam, who died on July 27.

"As a tribute to the People’s President, I propose to rename the ’Aurangzeb Road’ in New Delhi to ’Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road’. In my opinion, this will be a great way of preserving his memories and legacy forever," wrote Mahesh Girri.

Speaking to NDTV, Mr Girri said, "Do we ever name our children by the name of a devil? We can’t change history but we can try to correct some wrongs."

His demand set off a huge buzz on twitter, with comments like: "Let us name Aurangzeb Road APJ Kalam Marg, as Aurangzeb was ruthless ruler."

Many also opposed the move, saying that renaming a road cannot change India’s history.

In 2014, a prominent Sikh body in Delhi had petitioned PM Modi to change the name of Aurangzeb Road to Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Road. 

Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal Emperor, ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent in the 17th century.