New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav ridiculed the recent decision of changing the name in several places in Uttarakhand. He mocked the decision by asking Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to rename the state as ‘Uttar Pradesh 2’.
On Monday, the name of 11 places in the north Indian state were changed, including the ones in the districts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Nainital, and Udham Singh Nagar. Aurangzebpur to Shivaji Nagar, Gajiwali to Arya Nagar, Chandpur to Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Akarpur Fazalpur to Vijayanagar are among the eight places with name change in Haridwar district.
Miyanwala will be renamed to Ramji Wala, Pirwala to Kesari Kesari Nagar, Chandpur Khurd to Prithviraj Nagar, and Abdullah Nagar to Daksh Nagar in Dehradun. There are two changes in Nainital and one in Udham Singh Nagar as well.
While Uttarakhand CM Dhami attributed the decision in accordance with the public sentiment and Indian culture and heritage, Akhilesh suggested him to go one step further and change the state’s name as ‘Uttar Pradesh 2’.
“Uttarakhand ka naam bhi Uttar Pradesh 2 kar dijiye (Why not name Uttarakhand as Uttar Pradesh 2?),” Akhilesh said.
#WATCH | Delhi: ‘Uttarakhand ka naam bhi Uttar Pradesh-2 kar dijiye’ says Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav when asked about Uttarakhand CM’s announcement of renaming 11 places in 4 districts of the state pic.twitter.com/KsLUiCqojh
— ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2025
Historically, Uttarakhand was once part of the Uttar Pradesh state until the latter got into bifurcation on November 9, 2000. Uttarakhand was formed with all the northern hilly regions of Uttar Pradesh as there were long socio-political struggles between the regions. There were demands of special rights for the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of the Himalayas. The major difference in the region was the lifestyles, customs and cultures of the mountains were different from the plains. Interestingly, Uttarakhand was renamed from Uttaranchal in January 2007.
