Aligarh: A proposal to rename Aligarh as Harigarh was passed at the first board meeting of the Municipal Corporation on Tuesday. It has now been sent to the Urban Development Department for its nod. Once approved by the department, it will be placed at the cabinet meeting following which, a gazette notification would be issued in this regard.
After coming to power in 2017, the Yogi Adityanath government has changed names of many cities and railway stations. The proposal of renaming Aligarh was placed at the board meeting by councilor Sanjay Pandit. Earlier, the proposal was passed unanimously by the Zilla Panchayat at its first meeting in August 2021.
Ritu Suhas, Special Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Department, said that in order to rename a city in the Municipal Corporation area, a proposal has to be submitted to the Directorate of Urban Development after getting it passed by the corporation. In view of the historic importance of a city and public sentiments, the urban development department decides on sending it to the state Cabinet. After changing the city's name, the names of the respective railway and bus stations are also changed.
Earlier, the Yogi government renamed Allahabad and Faizabad as Prayagraj and Ayodhya respectively. Mughalsarai railway station was changed to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay station, Gorakhpur's Urdu Bazaar to Hindi Bazaar, Humayunpur to Hanuman Nagar, Meena Bazaar to Maya Bazaar and Alipur to Arya Nagar. Also, Jhansi railway station has been renamed as Veerangana Lakshmibai station and Banaras railway station to Kashi railway station.
Demand is on to rename a few other cities including Ghazipur as Gadhipur, Shahjahanpur as Shadipur, Azamgarh as Arya Nagar and Lucknow as Lakshmanpuri.
According to officials, Aligarh's was initially named Kol. Even today Kol Tehsil and Kol Vidhan Sabha names are in use. The Jat king Surajmal of Mathura and Bharatpur took control of Kol in 1753. On November 6, 1768, a Shia Muslim Sardar Mirza Sahab ruled here. In 1775, his soldier Salar Afarsiab Khan named the Aligarh after Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali. The fort of Mughal rule is also built here, which is known as Aligarh Fort.
Also Read: Maha govt approves renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, Osmanabad as Dharashiv
It is being speculated that Aligarh will be renamed as Harigarh before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Also, it is likely that the government may rename some districts including Sambhal, Farrukhabad, Sultanpur, Firozabad, Shahjahanpur, Agra, Mainpuri and Deoband.
In the past, the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party renamed many districts. For instance, Sambhal was renamed as Bhim Nagar, Shamli as Prabuddha Nagar, Hapur as Panchsheel Nagar, Hathras as Mahamaya Nagar and Kasganj as Kashiram Nagar. After Akhilesh Yadav became the Chief Minister in 2012, the old names were restored.
Aligarh has been proposed to be renamed as Harigarh because it is the birthplace of Swami Haridas, who later settled in Mathura. Also, there is Haridaspur village named after Swami Haridas in Aligarh. The memorial of Swami Haridas's wife was built in Khereshwar Dham itself. Swami Haridas left home in his youth and selected Nidhivan as a site for meditation. He is known for his songs and Tansen was his disciple. Even Emperor Akbar was impressed by his music.
