From 'Miyanganj' To 'Mayaganj', The Latest In Uttar Pradesh's Renaming Roster

Hours after the 'Miyanganj' to 'Mayaganj' proposal, a state minister demanded the renaming of Mirzapur, an eastern UP district next to Varanasi.

A gram panchayat or a local body in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao has proposed changing the name of a block in the district from 'Miyanganj' to 'Mayaganj' - the latest in a series of proposed name changes across Uttar Pradesh. The term "Miyan" is sometimes used as a prefix or a suffix in Muslim names in India and elsewhere. "The gram panchayat has suggested changing the name to 'Mayaganj'. We have sent this proposal to the UP government for the next step," Ravindra Kumar, the District Magistrate of Unnao, a district less than 50 km from Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow, said in a video statement. A letter by the Unnao District Magistrate to a senior official in Uttar Pradesh's Panchayati Raj department on Tuesday mentions that the process of getting a name change proposal passed by the gram panchayat was initiated after a letter in July this year by Bamba Lal Diwakar, a BJP MLA in the area.