In a press conference here, Gupta said that the party will send a proposal to Kejriwal government for changing the names of 40 villages in the city that symbolise a period of ‘slavery’. Opposition parties say it, ‘a political stunt’.

Shruti Solanki | HENB | New Delhi April 25, 2022:: Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, who is leading his party’s ‘bulldozer’ campaign against encroachment by “Rohingyas and Bangladeshis”, on Saturday announced his plan for changing Muslim names of 40 villages in the national capital to revert those names into its original Hindu roots.

In a press conference here, Gupta said that the party will send a proposal to Kejriwal government for changing the names of 40 villages in the city that symbolise a period of “slavery”. “Nobody wants to live with a mindset of slavery that these names denote. I have received requests from several villagers for changing names of their villages,” he said.

BJP-ruled South MCD passed a resolution to change the name of village Mohammadpur to Madhavpuram but Delhi government is sitting over it and not approving it, he claimed. “Local BJP councillor Bhagat Singh Tokas got a resolution passed by the corporation and had the town planning department send a letter signed by all villagers to the Delhi government’s Urban Development department on December 9 last year,” Gupta said.

No immediate reaction was available from Delhi government on Gupta’s claim. Gupta said that apart from Mohammadpur village, there are 40 other such villages whose names villagers want changed. “These 40 villages include Humayunpur, Yusuf Sarai, Masoodpur, Zamroodpur, Begumpur, Saidul Ajab, Fatehpur Beri, Hauz Khas, and Sheikh Sarai to name a few,” he said.

He said political parties playing “appeasement” politics have been “unmasked” because their vote bank is now being “bulldozed”. Last Wednesday, BJP-ruled North MCD sent bulldozers to remove encroachment in Jahangirpuri area, a day after Delhi BJP president wrote to its mayor asking for the demolition of “illegal structures”.

Violence and arson gripped Jahangirpuri last Saturday, when Hindus and Muslims pelted stoned and clashed with each other during a Hanuman Jayanti procession. Gupta has also written letters to mayors of party-ruled South and East MCD to identify and remove encroachment by Rohingyas, Bangladeshis, and “anti-social elements” in their areas.

Gupta said that the entire opposition, including AAP and Congress, are furious over bulldozing of encroachments in Jahangirpuri. “Entire opposition is backing rioters in Jahangirpuri because the ‘bulldozer of justice’ is doing its work. In Rajasthan, the Congress government bulldozed a 300-year-old Shiva temple, yet the double-standard political parties are silent,” Gupta said.

Though this initiative of BJP to rename many villages in and around Delhi earns a wide support from its Hindutva base line; opposition parties say it, ‘nothing but a political stunt’.

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__Inputs from PTI.