Name-changing mania: VHP changes Islampur to Iswarpur

Kolkata: Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a name-changing spree in recent times, and the saffron camp is also not lagging behind. This time the wave has hit Trinamool Congress (TMC)-ruled West Bengal.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) re-identified the location of a school as ‘Iswarpur’ in place of Islampur in Bengal’s North Dinajpur district. The school is affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

One India with reference to Bengali daily Ananda Bazaar Patrika has reported it. On the objections from various quarters on how can the location of a school affiliated to West Bengal Board of Secondary Education can be identified thus, State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee has assured to look into the matter.

Defending the move, the local VHP sources said the word ‘Islam’ was forced upon by the Muslim rulers in the past and Iswarpur is the actual historical name of the place and hence they decided to change it. However, they have drawn flak from historians who called it “ridiculous” and “saffron terrorism”.

Name changing politics is being carried out by the Yogi Adityanath government of UP. Recently Allahabad has been renamed as Prayagraj, while Faizabad has been changed into Ayodhya. Mughal Sarai was also renamed into Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar and talks are on to change Agra’s name into Agravan or Agrawal.