The Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Services Commission (UPHESC) has rectified the change in the pen names of renowned poets on their official website, blaming the “error” on a hack, a day after outrage on social media, over the same. The suffix of poets’ pen names was changed from Allahabadi to “Prayagraj”.
The legendary poet, Syed Akbar Hussain’s, pen name Akbar Allahabadi was changed to “Akbar Prayagraj” alongside poets Tegh Allahabadi and Rashid Allahabadi two days ago. The error has now been rectified.
The chairman of the autonomous body, Ishwar Sharan Vishwakarma, claimed that the website had been hacked and the “error had been rectified”, while the Education minister of the state, Dinesh Sharma, expressed ignorance over the change, reported The Print.
The Uttar Pradesh government led by Bharatiya Janata party’s Yogi Adidyanath, in 2018, changed Allahabad’s name to Prayagraj.
“The error came to light on Tuesday and we were trying to figure out what happened, but it has come to light that the website was hacked. Someone deliberately changed the names of the poets and the error has now been rectified,” explained Vishwakarma to The Print.
He also said that a police complaint has been registered and the cyber cell is investigating the matter.
While some blamed a technical glitch, a professor at Allahabad University, Heramb Chaturvedi, said that the act of disruption shows the pettiness of the authorities and reflects their skewed understanding of history.