Allahabad to be renamed as Prayagraj!

October 15: When in the southernmost part of Assam (read Silchar) a movement for renaming Silchar Railway Station as ‘Bhasha Sahid Station Silchar’is still lying in a dormant stage due to the apathy of the government; in another part of the country (read Uttar Pradesh), one after another places are renamed and that too without any slightest delay. After Mughalsarai station, it’s now the turn of Allahabad.

Well, readers might be curious as to whether Allahabad would be renamed as ‘Deen Dayal Upadhay Nagar.’ It’s nothing like that. Allahabad would be christened as ‘Prayagraj.’ The government views it as a tribute to the Sangam city ahead of the 2019 Kumbh Mela. A proposal to change the name was passed in the Kumbh Mela Margdarshak Mandal meeting held in Allahabad on Saturday.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said, “The honourable governor has already given his approval and if there is a consensus, I think the name will be changed soon.” Last year, seers of different akharas had met CM Yogi in Lucknow and had urged him to change the name of Allahabad as Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Ardh Kumbh fair to be held in the holy city.

Allahabad’s ancient name was Prayag but was changed after 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar founded a fort near the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, known as Sangam. He named the fort and its neighbourhood Ilahabad. Later, Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan renamed the entire city as Allahabad. But the area near the Sangam, site of the Kumbh Mela, continues to be called Prayag.

“Prayag is where Lord Brahma performed the first yagna. The confluence of two rivers is a ‘prayag’, and in Allahabad three rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati meet. Hence, it is the king of ‘prayags’. That is why it is ‘Prayagraj’,” the chief minister said explaining the root of the name.