Proposal to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh passed

After Allahabad became Prayagraj, it is now time for Aligarh to become Harigarh in Uttar Pradesh.

The Aligarh Municipal Corporation has unanimously passed a proposal to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh.

The proposal was presented by Mayor Prashant Singhal in a meeting on Monday and was supported by all councillors.

If the Uttar Pradesh government approves the proposal to rename Aligarh, it will add to the growing tally of places renamed in the BJP-ruled state.

Aligarh mayor Prashant Singhal said, “In the meeting, a proposal was presented to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh. All councillors unanimously supported this. Now, this proposal will be sent to the administration. I hope that the administration will take cognizance of this and fulfil our demand to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh. This demand has been pending since long.”

It may be recalled that a proposal to rename Aligarh to Harigarh was cleared by a zila panchayat meeting in 2021 and sent to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

In 2019, Chief Minister Adityanath had indicated that his government will keep up with its spree of renaming places across the state.

"We did what we felt was good. We renamed Mughal Sarai as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay Nagar, Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad district as Ayodhya district. Where there is a need, the government will take the steps required," Yogi Adityanath had said then.

Members of the ruling BJP have, over the years, demanded that other cities be renamed as well. An Agra lawmaker had proposed that Agra be renamed Agravan or Agarwal, while another suggested that Muzaffarnagar be renamed Laxmi Nagar and Mainpuri as Mayan Nagar.

A state government can change the name of any city or area within the state. After a municipal body unanimously approves a proposed name change resolution, it will write to the state government. The resolution will then be sent by the state government to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval. If the ministry and other relevant agencies approve the resolution, the state government can officially change the name.