In an unprecedented move, the city’s civic corporation unanimously sanctioned the proposition to rename Aligarh, a prominent city in Uttar Pradesh, as “Harigarh.” Mayor Prashant Singhal revealed this significant development on Tuesday.
The brainchild of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Sanjay Pandit, the proposal was swiftly ratified by all council members during a recent board meeting held on Monday. With the municipal council’s resounding support, the proposal is now destined for the state government’s deliberation and eventual approval, as articulated by Mayor Singhal.
Should the state government endorse this transition, it will join the ranks of places within Uttar Pradesh that have undergone name alterations. In 2018, the government renamed Faizabad to Ayodhya district, and in the same year, it rebranded Mughalsarai Railway Station in Chandauli district as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction. Subsequently, Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj in the following year.
Mayor Singhal conveyed the essence of the board meeting that persisted well into Monday evening. He elaborated that the presentation of the proposal to rename Aligarh as Harigarh was championed by Sanjay Pandit, a BJP corporator. Singhal asserted, “After extensive discussions, the proposal was unanimously endorsed by the council members during the board meeting. Subsequently, it will be conveyed to the state government for their contemplation. We remain optimistic that the desire to rename Aligarh as Harigarh will be fulfilled this time.”
Back in 2021, the Zila Panchayat of Aligarh had put forth a resolution advocating for the transformation of Aligarh into Harigarh. However, that initiative had seen no tangible progress.
Applauding the approval of the proposal, Aligarh BJP MP Satish Gautam expressed his support. In the past, he had formally petitioned Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, urging a change in the city’s nomenclature.
Nonetheless, Shahnawaz Alam, the head of the state Congress’s minority wing, raised concerns regarding the alignment of such name modifications with the traditional notion of shared heritage and a pluralistic society. He pondered on the implications of these changes, particularly in the context of power dynamics.
This saga of transformation ignited during a public gathering on August 21 when Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya commenced his address by referring to Aligarh as Harigarh. His remark triggered a chorus of demands for the city’s renaming from various BJP leaders. Notably, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were present at the gathering, which commemorated the second death anniversary of former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.
Subsequently, Maurya acknowledged the long-standing aspiration to rename the city and assured that “no demand would remain unfulfilled.”
