A week after Delhi’s municipal corporation announced renaming the capital’s famous Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road, a new road has been `named` after the famous Mughal emperor.
Former Congress MLA, Asif Mohammad Khan, has named the 3-km stretch, known as Pushta Road, that connects Okhla in south Delhi to Kalindi Kunj, Aurangzeb Road.
Khan, a former Congress MLA, said his decision was a part of his campaign against the ‘Hindu ideology.’ The new Aurangzeb Road too has a sign in green and bears names in three languages, Hindi, English and Urdu.
“I am not saying Aurangzeb is a great man. I am not saying that APJ Abdul Kalam was not a great man. That is not the point. But we can’t deny that Aurangzeb was a part of our history and we can’t change that. This is a blatant attempt by the BJP and RSS to rewrite history, instead what they want our children to consume is the Hindutva ideology,” Khan was quoted by Indian Express.
Khan, who lost to Aam Aadmi Party in this year’s assembly elections, says he realises his action is illegal but blames the Union Home Minister for doing ‘exactly the same.”
He said, “Rajnath Singh, our home minister, had said in Parliament that the name of historical buildings and places can’t be changed. Then how can the name of Aurangzeb Road be changed? What is worse is that there is no space for dissent. The minute I say that changing the name of the road was wrong, I am an anti-national.”
Khan said that he was busy organising the inauguration ceremony tentatively scheduled for this Friday adding that any attempts by the ‘BJP-run’ MCD to pull down the board will be opposed with full force as his moved had huge local support.
He said that changing the name of the road was merely to expose the ‘Hindutva idelogy’ of the central government.