The Aligarh civic body on Monday passed a resolution to change the name of the city to 'Harigarh'.
The development comes at a time when names of several places have been changed in Uttar Pradesh under the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Government of Uttar Pradesh, such as Allahabad being renamed as Prayagraj and Faizabad and Ayodhya.
BJP Corporator Sanjay Pandit had moved the resolution, which was passed on Monday, reported PTI.
The resolution has now been sent to the Government of Uttar Pradesh. As per existing norms, the state government needs to send such proposals to the Union government and get its approval for the change of name of any place.
In Aligarh, a similar resolution was also passed in 2021 by the District Panchayat, reported PTI.
In 2015, Hindu right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had also pushed for the recognition of Aligarh's original name as 'Harigarh'. Earlier, PTI reported that former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh of BJP had tried to change the name of the state in 1992 but he could not succeed as there was a Congress government at the Centre. After the resignation, Singh resigned as the CM of UP and the BJP government was dismissed.
As per the government website of the Aligarh district, the city has been known by various names in the previous centuries, such as Kol/Koil, Sabzabad, Muhammadgarh, Sabitgarh, Ramgarh, and finally Aligarh.
