The Delhi unit of the BJP has demanded that the names of roads in the capital which are “symbols of Muslim slavery” should be changed. These include the names of Tughlaq Road, Akbar Road, Aurangzeb Lane, Humayun Road and Shahjahan Road. Delhi BJP President Adesh Gupta has written a letter to the civic body NDMC suggesting that Tughlaq Road be renamed as Guru Gobind Singh Marg, Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, Aurangzeb Lane as Abdul Kalam Lane, Humayun Road as Maharishi Valmiki Road and Shahjahan Road. The name should be named after General Bipin Rawat. Adesh Gupta says that Babur Lane should be named after freedom fighter Khudiram Bose. The headquarters of the Congress Party is also at 24, Akbar Road, Delhi.
Meanwhile, members of the United Hindu Front and the nationalist Shiv Sena on Tuesday recited Hanuman Chalisa outside the Qutub Minar complex and staged a protest demanding the renaming of the iconic monument here to ‘Vishnu Stambh’. During this, more than 30 protesters were taken into custody and taken to the police station.
Bhagwan Goel, international working president of the United Hindu Front, claimed that the Qutub Minar was a ‘Vishnu pillar’, built by the “great king Vikramaditya”, but later Qutubuddin Aibak took credit for it. There were 27 temples in the complex which were destroyed by Aibak. Evidence of all this is available. Statues of Hindu deities can still be seen in the Qutub Minar complex. The protesting leaders demanded that the name of Qutub Minar should be changed to Vishnu Stambh.
The protesting leaders said that the idols of Lord Ganesha inside the mosque were hurting the sentiments of the community. These leaders had recently claimed that the minaret was built from material obtained after demolishing 27 Hindu-Jain temples.
On the demand to change the name of the roads of Delhi, it is being told that this process is first approved by a panel of NDMC. The rules state that name change requests are accepted taking into account history, sentiment and whether a personality needs to be acknowledged that way.