Ghaziabad Renaming on Cards? Civic Body Discusses Proposal | Check Two Name Options

The civic body in Ghaziabad has put forth a demand on their board meeting agenda to rename the district for the first time on Tuesday. The move comes after repeated demands by Hindu outfits for the same, following which two options have emerged – ‘Gajnagar’ and ‘Harnandi Nagar’.

BJP Councillor, Sanjay Singh on Monday made a move to induct the issue of renaming in the agenda of the meeting. The saffron party has a comfortable majority in the corporation.

In a conversation with Times of India regarding the proposal tabled by him, Singh said, “The board has adopted my proposal and will hold a discussion on it on Tuesday. Primarily, I have proposed two names – Gajnagar and Harnandi Nagar. Ghaziabad holds a significant place in history. It’s high time the city is accorded its rightful place.”

Following the renaming of Allahabad to Prayagraj in 2018, there has been several demands to rename the NCR district – Ghaziabad. over the last few years.

One of the faces who is leading the effort of renaming is the head priest of Dudheshwar Nath temple, Mahant Narayan Giri.

He met the chief minister Yogi Adityanath in 2022 and submitted a memorandum. “The CM assured me he would look into our demands. I had suggested that Ghaziabad should be named either Gajprastha, Dudheshwarath Nagar or Harnandipuram,” Giri said as quoted by TOI.

On being asked about why the three names have been proposed by him Giri said that in Mahabharat, the area that is Ghaziabad today was once a part of Hastinapur, which is located just 40km from there.

“This was a forested area and home to many wild animals like elephants. Since Gaj means elephant, the name Gajpura or Gajnagar may be apt,” he said.

In the UP District Gazetteers of Meerut, a government booklet of records that was last published in 1966, the name of elephants are mentioned. “Both in the Mahabharata and the works of Kalidasa, there is mention of huge and dense forests to the north of Hastinapur where it appears elephants lived in large numbers… This place is known by many other names and it is probably not a mere coincidence that they are mostly synonyms of the word meaning elephant,” as per the seventh edition of the Gazetteer.

Talking about Harnandi Nagar as an option, Giri said that the name, alluded to the Hindon river, which flows past the city.