Om Prakash Rajbhar, chief of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), who is also a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government has mocked the saffron party over its renaming spree and suggested it to change the names of its three prominent Muslim leaders.
SBSP is an ally of BJP in the state.
He slammed the BJP's campaign to rename cities as a "drama" aimed at diverting the attention of the people from the real issues.
The Uttar Pradesh government recently changed the names of the Mughalsarai railway junction, Allahabad and Faizabad districts.
"Whenever serious issues like the rights of the backward classes are raised, the BJP comes up with such ideas to fool the people," Rajbhar said.
"The BJP says that the cities were named by Mughals. In the BJP, there is Shahnawaz Hussain, who is the national spokesperson; Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is a Union Cabinet minister; and, in UP, there is Mohsin Raza, who is a minister of state in the Yogi Adityanath government. First, the names of these three persons should be changed," Rajbhar purportedly said in a video, which went viral on social media.
"The GT Road, which was built by a Muslim king, should be uprooted. After all, it was built by Sher Shah Suri. Why do you allow people to use that road? Similarly, the Red Fort in Delhi and Taj Mahal. Who built them?" asked Rajbhar.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced that Faizabad district would henceforth be known as Ayodhya. He also proposed setting up of a new airport, named after Lord Ram, and a medical college in the name of King Dasharath, father of Ram, in the district.
Last month, the state Cabinet had adopted a proposal to rename the historic city of Allahabad as Prayagraj.
When contacted by PTI on Sunday, Rajbhar said: "There is no point in renaming the districts of the state. The work which was done by the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Congress, the same is being repeated by the BJP. There is nothing new in it."
However, UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said though Rajbhar was entitled to have his views as a minister, but should refrain from making such remarks.
"Faizabad and Allahabad were renamed as Ayodhya and Prayagraj respectively as per the sanctity of these places. It was only a corrective action, as centuries ago invaders with polluted mentality had changed the names of these places," the spokesperson claimed.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has re-opened the issue of renaming Ahmedabad as 'Karnavati', days after his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj.
Soon after offering 'darshan' at the Bhadkrakali Temple on the Hindu new year on Thursday, Rupani said his government was committed to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati. The task would be accomplished and the renaming would happen before the 2019 parliamentary elections.
The Chief Minister said all legal hurdles would be tackled for this purpose as "millions of Hindus in Ahmedabad and most parts of Gujarat wished" that the city was renamed as Karnavati.
(With inputs from agencies)
