Himachal Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has clarified that government is not considering any proposal to rename capital Shimla as Shyamala. Thakur said that although the government has received a proposal to rename the city, the government is in no mood of giving it a due consideration.
“Let me make it clear that the government is not considering a proposal to rename Shimla as Shyamala. We had received a suggestion to rename Shimla and it is our duty to hear all suggestions,” he said.
The clarification comes in the wake of reports doing the rounds that BJP government may consider to rechristen Shimla to Shyamala. Also, a campaign was launched by some right-wing groups demanding from the government to rename the city that had served as the summer capital of India during British rule.
ALSO READ: Changing Shimla’s name will be ‘absurd and unacceptable’: Anand Sharma
BJP leader and Himachal minister Vipin Singh Parmar had last week said that the government may consider changing the name of Shimla to Shyamala if the people want the government to do so. He had said that “many cities in the country used to have historic names but they were changed”.
“So, there would not be any harm in reverting to those names,” the Minister said.
The development was widely criticised by the Congress with its senior leader Anand Sharma, who hails from Shimla, saying that ‘any move to rename Shimla will be absurd and totally unacceptable’. Sharma argued that the city has a very rich legacy of the freedom struggle and was established by the Britishers.
“There is no historical evidence to justify any change in its name,” the former union minister said.
The development comes close on the heels of BJP government in Uttar Pradesh renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj.
