What’s in a name? For family and admirers of Kannada folklorist and freedom fighter S.K. Kareem Khan, it has meant an eight-year-long battle to name one of the arterial roads in the city in his honour.
The renaming of Indiranagar 100-feet road in honour of the folklorist has been long overdue as the order was passed in 2006 by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
However, the implementation of it has remained a dream for his family.
Kareem Khan’s grandnephew Tanveer Ahmed, who has been running from pillar to post for its implementation, said, “This issue has been raised at least 10 times in BBMP council but the civic body is pushing it aside. Many councillors too have voiced their support for renaming the road after my grandfather, but there seems to be no progress.” The BBMP had passed an order to rename the road after the folklorist soon after his death in 2006. After years of delay, the then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda suggested the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s name. However, the BBMP stood by the 2006 order and stated that it would be named Kareem Khan Road.
The inordinate delay in renaming the road has angered many Kannada activists as well. On Monday, members of the Kannada Okkoota announced that they will take it upon themselves to rename the road in Kareem Khan’s name if the civic body did not do so within 15 days.
The members of the okkoota, led by Vatal Nagaraj, gathered at the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s head office on Monday and gave a memorandum to Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana.
The Mayor, who evaded from pointing out causes for the delay, said the issue had been raised many times and they would try to resolve it. “I have called for a meeting on August 27 on this issue,” he said.
