Aligarh Name Change: After Allahabad, another city in Uttar Pradesh, Aligarh, is likely to be renamed. On Monday, the Aligarh Municipal Corporation unanimously passed a proposal to rename Aligarh as Harigarh. The proposal, presented by Mayor Prashant Singhal, was supported by all councillors, ANI reported.
"In a meeting yesterday, a proposal was presented to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh. All councillors unanimously supported this. Now, this proposal will be sent to the administration. I hope that the administration will take cognizance of this and fulfill our demand to change the name of Aligarh to Harigarh...This demand was being raised for a long time," Singhal told ANI.
The proposal will now be forwarded to the Uttar Pradesh government for its approval. If the proposal gets a nod, it will add to the growing list of places whose names have been changed in the BJP-ruled state. Under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's tenure Allahabad was renamed as Prayagraj and Faizabad district as Ayodhya district. The name of the Mughal Sarai Junction has also been changed to Pandit Deen Dayal Junction.
However, this is not the first time that a demand for the name change of Aligarh has been made. A similar call was given in the late 1970s by the Jan Sangh, the precursor of the BJP. In 2021, the zila panchayat of Aligarh had passed a resolution seeking to rename Aligarh as Harigarh. A proposal was also made to name the Aligarh airport after BJP leader and former CM Kalyan Singh.
Aligarh was known by the earlier name of Kol or Koil before the 18th century. While the origin of the name is specifically not known, Kol has been referred to in the sense of a tribe or caste, name of a place or mountain and name of a sage or demon in ancient texts. It was named Aligarh after Shia commander Najaf Khan captured Kol. However, some experts claim that Aligarh is named after Hazrat Ali, the last caliph and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, a report in The Hindu said.