Chief Minister Adityanath in New Delhi, Friday. (Source: PTI) Chief Minister Adityanath in New Delhi, Friday. (Source: PTI)

IN A letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has forwarded him a request he received from Lucknow-based ‘Rajputana Shaurya Foundation’ to change the name of Sultanpur district to its “ancient name Kush Bhawanpur” and sought appropriate action in the matter.

The letter, dated March 28, was sent by Naik following a meeting with a delegation of the foundation that gave him a book, ‘Sultanpur Itihaas ki Jhalak’, and a memorandum on the history of Sultanpur. The delegation also requested that the district be added in the list of heritage cities.

Since BJP come to power in the state, it has changed the names of Allahabad to Prayagraj, Faizabad to Ayodhya and Mughalsarai railway station in Chandauli to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction.

“Dear Yogi Adityanath ji, Rajputana Shaurya Foundation’s delegation met me to give me a book, ‘Sultanpur Itihaas ki Jhalak’, and a memorandum dated March 25. In that, while mentioning the ancient history of Sultanpur, they requested it to be included in heritage cities and renamed to its ancient name of Kush Bhawanpur. Along with the given memorandum, special attention has been sought for the page numbers 4, 6, 16 and 202 of the book,” the letter by Naik read.

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It added that the book and a copy of the letter was forwarded along with attachments for samuchit karyawahi (appropriate action) in the matter. Governor House information officer Anjum Naqvi confirmed that the delegation had met Naik recently and their requests were forwarded to the Chief Minister.

Last year, first-time BJP MLA from Sultanpur’s Lambhua constituency had raised the demand to rename the district as Kush Bhawanpur after Lord Ram’s son Kush. In December, a proposal by MLA Devmani Dwivedi in this regard was taken up for discussion in the Assembly. Talking to The Indian Express, Dwivedi had then said the issue was being raised by people of Sultanpur for a long time and it was not taken seriously earlier. “However, when many people came to me, I also looked into the history and found that before Khilji dynasty came into power, the city was popularly referred to as Kush Bhawanpur,” he said, adding that the town also had alternate names as Kushpur and Kushawati.

Talking to The Indian Express, foundation member and head of the delegation, Himanshu Singh, said the demand was raised in the past too and this time they again raised it because “only a BJP government would listen” to it. Naik did not respond to phone calls.

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