Opposition parties on Friday accused UP Chief Minister Mayawati of trying to push her political agenda by naming after dalit icon Shahuji Maharaj the new district carved out of Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Amethi.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that it would have been better had the district been named Amethi as the area is identified by this name the world over.
Joshi said that whatever be the name, the area would continue to be identified with the Nehru-Gandhi family and the party and its leaders would struggle for better governance for its further development.
However, Pradesh Congress Committee Secretary Deepak Singh, who led a campaign demanding district status for Amethi, claimed that people of the area cannot identify themselves with the new name. Singh said that the struggle for naming the district after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi would continue.
The Samajwadi Party accused Mayawati of misusing her majority in the legislature to impose her political agenda on the people.
"The massive economic burden that the new district would incur has been overlooked and it has been named after a dalit icon who has no relevance in Uttar Pradesh," party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said. "The move is nothing but an attempt by the BSP government to force its thoughts and views on the people by misusing majority just for gaining political mileage," he said.
The BJP, meanwhile, refrained from openly criticising the move but cautioned the government against politicising the issue of naming the districts.
"It would be relevant to name the new districts , schemes and institutions launched by the government for the people of the state after leaders, freedom fighters and icons who can be identified with the state and have had some contribution to its development in the past," a state BJP leader said.
The state cabinet yesterday decided to restore district status to Amethi, which the then Mayawati government had created in 2003 but was scrapped by Mulayam Singh Yadav government the same year. PTI
