New Delhi: A day after the New Delhi municipal council (NDMC) took the decision to change the name of the Aurangzeb road in Lutyen’s delhi to A.P.J Abdul Kalam Road in honor of late President, The Citizens For Democracy, civil society group, has contested the decision saying it illegal arbitrary and against constitutional ethos.
“It appears to be guided by not reason and law but by narrow communal consideration,” said Justice Sachar, veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar and Delhi High Court lawyer ND Pancholi in a joint statement of Citizens For Democracy.
“Citizens For Democracy, ‘CFD’ in short, is shocked that the New Delhi Municipal council, NDMC in short, has decided to rename the ‘Aurangzeb Road’ in New Delhi as the ‘Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Road’. The said decision is totally illegal, unjustified arbitrary and against our constitutional ethos. It appears to be guided by not reason and law but by narrow communal consideration,” they said.
They alleged that BJP has long been trying to change the name of Aurangzeb Road.
In October 2014 a request was lodged to NDMC to rename the name of ‘Aurangzeb Road’ to ‘Guru Tegh Bahadur Road’ but it was not allowed. On 17th December, 2014 Shri Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary, Minister of State for Home Affairs, made a statement on behalf of the Home Ministry that Aurangzeb Road could not be renamed since the policy is not to rename any road named after a historical figure.
Thus as per guidelines of the government, the name of the ‘Aurangzeb Road’ cannot be changed. The memory of Dr. Abdul Kalam could have been better served by building a scientific or educational institute under his name.
They demanded the NDMC to immediately withdraw the decision and not to take any step for implementing the said decision.
A notice in this respect has already been sent to the concerned authorities on behalf of the Citizens For Democracy.
Citizens For Democracy is headed by Kuldip Nayar while Adv. N.D. Pancholi is General Secretary.