Mumbai
Exactly a year after the Bajrang Dal and other Hindu outfits protested against the renaming of a sports complex in Malad West after Tipu Sultan, the guardian minister for suburban Mumbai and Women and Child Development Minister, Mangal Prabhat Lodha of the BJP, announced the removal of the name. It will now be named after freedom fighter Ashfaqullah Khan.
Senior BJP MP Gopal Shetty had taken the lead in protesting against the name. He had called Tipu Sultan a “religious bigot who targeted Hindus”.
Mr Lodha said, “This is the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Why do we need Tipu Sultan’s name in Maharashtra? The name was removed by local people themselves at the suburban District Planning and Development Council (DPDC) meeting 10 days ago.” The minister added that MLAs and MPs suggested the names of Ashfaqullah Khan, Dr BR Ambedkar and Ramprasad Bismil. He said that rechristening is not a problem as no government or BMC records had registered it under Tipu Sultan’s name.
Suburban Collector Nidhi Choudhary said, “We knew a law and order situation had arisen last year. The State Government doesn’t pass such proposals, so MP and MLAs had given the proposal to the Collector. We further sent it to the BMC. However, the civic body requested that the ground should be handed over to them before naming it. We have now sent the BMC’s proposal to the state. The board therefore has been removed and a new one has been installed.”
Ms Choudhary clarified that grounds need to have names, so the new one has been installed temporarily to avoid law and order situation.
Last year in January, Bajrang Dal activists and Sakal Hindu Samaj activists were booked for agitation outside the ground. The BJP also vehemently opposed the name. Later, then Mayor Kishori Pednekar had kept the name of the ground over Rani Laxmi Bai after the Market and Garden Committee approved it.
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