he proposal to rename Aurangzeb Lane after late President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been put in cold storage, officials of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) have admitted.
The lane, which connects what used to be Aurangzeb Road with Prithviraj Road, was supposed to be named after the former President just as the road named after the Mughal emperor was. On August 28, the NDMC had unanimously passed a resolution to rename the colonial-era Aurangzeb Road as Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam Road.
After a public notice was published, the signboards and markers on the road were changed on September 4. Now, after two months, officials have been forced to reconsider the move to rename the lane as the move to change the name of the road received a lot of flak.
Right-wing Hindu groups had been demanding that Aurangzeb’s name be removed, terming him a cruel ruler.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who as a member of the NDMC voted in favour of renaming Aurangzeb Road, faced criticism for the Aam Aadmi Party’s support of the proposal.
An AAP source said the party’s members in the NDMC, Mr. Kejriwal and Delhi Cantonment MLA Surinder Singh, would take a call on the proposal to rename the lane when it is placed on the agenda.
“We supported the decision to rename Aurangzeb Road because it was to honour Dr. Kalam, who was a beloved public figure and scientist. We have done that; our aim is not to erase Aurangzeb from the city,” said the AAP official.
NDMC vice-chairperson and BJP leader Karan Singh Tanwar, who had sent the proposal to rename Aurangzeb Lane to chairperson Naresh Kumar, insisted it would be considered in the next meeting of the council.
“The last meeting was adjourned after just one issue was discussed. The proposal will be introduced in the next meeting, which will be after Diwali,” said Mr. Tanwar.
The erstwhile Aurangzeb Road is one of the most expensive stretches in Lutyens’ Delhi and home to ambassadors, embassies, and State houses. The decision to rename it had been questioned in PILs filed in the High Court.
While dismissing one of the PILs on October 14, the court had said the petitioner, a lawyer named Shahid Ali, might have been aggrieved by the move, but the public wasn’t.
NDMC officials admitted they were waiting for the court’s decision on the renaming of the road to consider a name change for the lane.
However, a senior NDMC official said the proposal had not been considered so far. The official said renaming the lane had not been a priority as the NDMC was busy with events for the India-Africa Forum Summit and then the Run for Unity. The proposal was on the back burner for now, the official said. “There is no hurry. We wanted to honour Dr. Kalam after his death, so we decided to rename the road after him. Just because the road was renamed, it doesn’t mean we have to rename the lane as well,” said the official.
We supported the decision to rename Aurangzeb Road because it was to honour Dr. Kalam, who was a beloved public figure and scientist. We have done that; our aim is not to erase Aurangzeb from the city
The erstwhile Aurangzeb Road is one of the most expensive stretches in Lutyens' Delhi and home to ambassadors, embassies, and State houses. The decision to rename it had been questioned in PILs filed in the High Court
