Former Uttar Pradesh governor and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Naik on Monday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led government should pass a resolution regarding changing the name of Kolhapur’s Shivaji University to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj University and send it to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to speed up the process.
He met Mr. Thackeray on the issue on Monday.
Mr. Naik said true respect to the person can only be given if their full name is incorporated in the organisation’s name. “I don’t understand what is the problem in keeping long names of universities. In any case, people will come up with the abbreviated name for the organisation in some time,” Mr. Naik said.
He also said, very often, people don’t know where Lokmanya Tilak Road is. “But, if you ask them where L.T. Road is, they would instantly recognise it,” Mr. Naik said.
Mr. Naik said that during his tenure as governor of Uttar Pradesh, he had taken the initiative to change the name of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Agra. “If the Chief Minister takes the initiative, the name can be changed easily after approval from the Governor and the President of India. Mr. Thackeray has assured me that he will consider my request. I have also given a letter to him regarding this,” Mr. Naik said.
On the high prices of onions in the city, Mr. Naik said it is the consumer’s right to protest against the pricing of a commodity. “There is nothing that can be done to reduce the price now. This is a simple case of demand and supply. Onion crops did not turn out well due to untimely rains, and so, there is a shortage of onions in the market. People are forced to buy it at a high price,” Mr. Naik said.
Mr. Naik condemned Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar’s statements on the onion prices. “It is not something we knew beforehand. Mr. Pawar says he had already cautioned the government about this situation six months ago. But the question is, how will anyone know when it will rain six months later,” Mr. Naik said.
On the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, a front of three parties coming together to form the State government, Mr. Naik accused the Sena of cheating Maharashtra’s voters, who voted for the Shiv Sena only because it was in alliance with the BJP.
“The Congress and the NCP had always said they wanted to sit in the Opposition. But the Sena wanted to come to power through whichever way possible. The public will punish the alliance in the next elections,” Mr. Naik said.
