BJP MLA demands rename Agra as Agravan

A BJP MLA from the Taj Mahal city of Agra has demanded renaming it as Agravan, saying the name Agra has no meaning, days after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath rechristened Faizabad as Ayodhya and Allahabad as Prayagraj.

In a letter to Adityanath on Tuesday, BJP MLA from Agra North, Jagan Prasad Garg said there were many ‘van’ (forests) and Agarwals (followers of Maharaja Agrasen) in Agra, and therefore, the city’s name should be changed to ‘Agravan’.

“The region was initially known as Agravan and finds such a mention in the Mahabharat. But in the course of time, the city was named as Akbarabad. Later, it became ‘Agra’, which has no specific meaning and thus its name should be revived to Agravan,” said the MLA.

“I will meet the CM and seek the change of name of Agra to Agravan,” Garg said, adding that the population of the Vaish



community, which follows Maharaja Agrasen in Agra, is about 10 lakh and the city has maximum Agarwals.

Situated about 200 km from Delhi, Agra is home to the famous Taj Mahal and a number of other Mughal-era monuments in Fathpur Sikri which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city was the capital of the Mughal rulers in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Garg’s demand is among several made by BJP and other right wing leaders to rename cities bearing connection to erstwhile Muslim rulers. The list includes Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, Telangana’s Hyderabad, UP’s Aligarh and Muzaffarnagar, and Maharashtra’s Aurangabad and Osmanabad.

The renaming spree by the BJP government has come in for criticism from opposition leaders and activists who have questioned the rationale and accused it of diverting attention from problems of the people such as unemployment and inflation.