india

Updated: Apr 07, 2017 17:08 IST

The Jamaat-e-Islami Hindi has demanded a ban on the names of cities and roads, saying any campaign to rename historical places was an attempt to rewrite history.

"Jamaat e Islami Hind denounces the renaming of cities and roads on communal grounds, including the recent decision to rename Aurangzeb Road after (former president A.P.J. Abdul) Kalam which is an example of the communal mindset prevalent amongst some in power," it said.

"The campaign to rename historical places and roads is an attempt to rewrite history and project historical personalities of a particular community as villains and enemies of the country," it said in a statement.

"This communalization of history, twisting of facts and trying to create hatred against a particular community will damage the secular fabric of our country and harm the plural ethos of our country.

"The government should come out with a law banning the change of names of cities and roads," the Jamaat added.

The Jamaat also denounced the murder of renowned writer and educationist MM Kalburgi in Karnataka on August 30.

He was the third high profile leader to be killed after veteran anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune and veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur, it noted on Saturday.

"Jamaat feels that all these murders are pre-planned and are meant to exterminate and intimidate all those who challenge and criticize the fascist forces in the country."

The Jamaat condemned what it said was the use of religion-census data for drawing political mileage and creating communal rift.

"The data is being used by divisive forces to drive a wedge between communities by creating a bogey of Muslim hegemony and projecting their population growth as a threat to the country," it said.

"Jamaat feels that the higher sex ratio (number of women per thousand men) in Muslims can be attributed to the lower prevalence of female foeticide in Muslims which is an outcome of the great respect and honor given to the girl child by Islam.

"Jamaat appeals to the government to release the caste based data as soon as possible."