Bengaluru: Taking a hard line, BJP MPs Ananth Kumar Hegde and Tejasvi Surya Thursday strongly opposed any move to name roads in the city after Muslim leaders.
In a strongly-worded letter to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP – the civic body) Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, they said naming of streets after Muslim leaders would set a dangerous precedent and go in line with the two-nation theory propagated by the Muslim League.
“Christening of roads in a Muslim-dominated locality with only Muslim names reeks of the same communal mentality of the two-nation theory and Muslim League's demand of separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. This is dangerous and must be condemned,” Tejasvi Surya, the MP from Bangalore South, said in his letter. “There is no dearth of non-Muslim public figures and patriots on whom our roads can be named after,” he added.
These letters have been written in context of a December 16 notification which was passed by the BBMP Revenue Department naming certain roads in Muslim-dominated areas after community leaders.
However, the decision to name some roads after Muslim leaders was approved by the BBMP Council led by former Mayor Goutham Kumar of the BJP.
In his letter, Hegde said, “Only names of Muslim leaders have been recommended in a particular ward. It is not appropriate to undertake such a step in the name of social work, which is nothing but promotion of one particular community.”
