LUCKNOW: A first time BJP MLA from
Uttar Pradesh's
Lambhua constituency, 35 km from Lucknow, has tabled a proposal in the UP Vidhan Sabha that district Sultanpur be renamed as Kush Bhawanpur, after Lord Ram's son Kush.
The Vidhan Sabha will discuss Devmani Dwivedi's proposal under section 103 of the UP Assembly's charter of rules. The MLA, a former Indian Railway Traffic Services official, who speaks in Sanskrit at his home, said that he has dug out old historical records to support the nomenclature for Sultanpur.
Now, Sultanpur on radar to wipe out Khilji name“The town was originally called Kush Bhawanpur.
Also it had alternate names as Kushpur and Kushawati. The most popular name was Kushbhawan,” said Dwivedi, who retired as General Manager (Rail Land Development Authority) in 2016 with nine years of service left.
The 52-year-old, who once shot to fame after he cleared UPSC while being a DSP-rank cop in Uttar Pradesh at 23, also said that the district's name was changed only after “Sultan” Alauddin Khilji invaded the district.
“Poet Kalidas, who authored Raghuvansh Mahakavyam, and historian Alexander Cunnigham as well as gazeteer of Sultanpur had recorded these names. Later during Alauddin Khliji period, its name was changed as Sultanpur," said Dwivedi.
If approved, this will be fourth name change of any district or place in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, Allahabad and Faizabad, were renamed as Praygraj and Ayodhya this year besides changing Mughalsarai railway station as Deen Dayal Upadhyay station.
Samajwadi Party and BSP leaders, were however, not amused with the proposal.
“This is a design by RSS and BJP to just change names of towns with Muslim names, relegating real issues concerning UP such as riots in Bulalndshahr, deaths in hospitals like BRD, malnutrition and attacks on inter-faith couples and instead building a culture of fake encounters,” said Ujjwal Raman Singh, senior SP MLA from Karchana in Allahabad.