Reviving the originality, religious city Allahabad is now ‘Prayagraj’

Allahabad, October 16: Reviving the places with its originality and renaming the places with its ancient names, Allahabad will now be known as Prayagraj. The decision was taken by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after clearing the proposal to rename Allahabad in the state cabinet meeting.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, senior Cabinet minister Siddhartha Nath Singh said, “The renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj before Kumbh Mela came for approval in the meeting and I am happy to say Allahabad will now be known as Prayagraj.”

Siddhartha Nath Singh further added saying, “Rig Veda, Mahabharat and Ramayana also mention Prayagraj (for Allahabad). The people of entire Allahabad, the sages and seers wanted that Allahabad should be known as Prayagraj. All the sages and seers had given their unanimous approval for the same.”

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to Allahabad on Saturday had said that the name of the city should be changed to Prayagraj if there is consensus on the same in the run-up to the 2019 Kumbh Mela.

With the opposition unhappy with changing the name of the religious city of Allahabad, Energy Minister and government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma had supported the move. "Some persons are objecting to renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified," Sharma had said.

State Governor Ram Naik was also supportive of the demands put forth by saints and people of the Sangam city to rename it. Earlier the railway station of Mughalsarai was renamed after Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) station, seen as a bid by the BJP-led state government to revive the legacy of the Jan Sangh leader who died at the junction in 1968.