The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday hailed the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to adopt a proposal to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj and demanded that the name of Faizabad be changed to “Sri Ayodhya”.
VHP spokesman Sharad Sharma claimed that renaming of Allahabad aimed to free the mindset of slavery and added all sections of people had hailed this step of the State government.
“The Uttar Pradesh government is taking steps in the interest of the people and their sentiments and its decision to change the name of Allahabad is praiseworthy... Now they need to change the name of Faizabad to Sri Ayodhya,” he said.
Mr. Sharma said there were still a number of streets, buildings and districts which reminded them of the days of slavery.
“We have got freedom from the British rule but their symbols still hurt the self-respect of every Hindustani,” he said.
‘Symbols of slavery’
The present government needed to understand their feelings and free the coming generations from these “symbols of slavery”, he claimed.
Mr. Sharma said the Yogi Adityanath-led government could make an announcement about it on Diwali and please the seers of the temple town of Ayodhya.
Earlier this week, the State Cabinet approved a proposal to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj.
Senior Minister Sidharth Nath Singh had said the move would help highlight Indian culture at international level. BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla had praised the government for “rectifying a historical mistake” but Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had flayed the move.
Congress said the name change would affect the history in which Allahabad had played a significant role.
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