Lucknow, July 31 (IANS) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday welcomed the restoration of the original name of Sant Ravidas Nagar for Bhadohi, and urged the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government to restore the original names of other districts as well.
Taking to her X account, she demanded that the government restore the original names of districts named after great figures, including Manyavar Kanshiram.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath recently announced that Bhadohi district would be renamed Sant Ravidas Nagar. He made the announcement while addressing an event in Varanasi, the birthplace of Ravidas.
In a post on social media, the BSP supremo stated that her government had created several new districts — named after saints, great figures, and social reformers to strengthen the administrative system and serve the public interest, but the then Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government changed their names due to its “casteist” mindset and narrow politics.
“The party is grateful to the state government for this move,” she said in an open endorsement of the move by the Yogi government.
She further said that numerous new districts, tehsils, development blocks, and police zones and ranges were created to streamline the administrative system and better serve the public interest during the BSP-led government, many of which were named after great saints, gurus, and eminent figures from Dalit and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities but the SP government overturned these names for its parochial politics and narrow agenda.
The BSP chief said that a new district named after Manyavar Kanshiram was created in the Braj region, with Kasganj designated as the district headquarters to ensure comprehensive development of the area, but the SP regime changed that as well, driven by its anti-PDA (Backward, Dalit, and Minority) attitude.
She further said that BSP would be grateful to the current dispensation if the original name of the district established in honour of Manyavar Kanshiram was restored either before or on October 9, the death anniversary of BSP founder.
–IANS
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