BJP MPs oppose naming streets in Bengaluru after Muslim leaders

Bengaluru: BJP MPs Ananth Kumar Hegde and Tejasvi Surya on Thursday described the alleged move to name a few roads after Muslims in minority dominated areas like Padarayanapura, here as reeking of "communal mentality of two-nation theory", and wrote to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Manjanath Prasad to revise the list with non-Muslim public figure.

Claiming that the list of names mooted by BBMP has only Muslim names, Tejasvi Surya in his letter stated, "Christening of roads in Muslim-dominated locality with only Muslim names reeks of the same communal mentality of the two-nation theory and Muslim League's demand of separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. This is dangerous and must be condemned." The 29-year-old MP said there was no dearth of non-Muslim public figures and patriots on whom the roads can be named after. He asked the Commissioner to revise the list and finalise the list of roads to be named after personalities only after wide public discussion. Incidentally, the decision was approved by the BBMP Council led by former Mayor Goutham Kumar of the BJP.

Similarly, Ananth Kumar Hegde, the veteran MP from Uttara Kannada in his letter to the BBMP Commissioner said that the roads be named after martyrs. "Only names of Muslim leaders have been recommended in this particular ward. It is not appropriate to undertake such a step in the name of social work, which is nothing but promotion of one particular community".

Padarayanapura under Chamrajpet Assembly constituency has been in the news since it became the first ward in the city to get sealed as per COVID-19 containment measures taken by the BBMP in April. A ruckus had also broken out in the area after some residents, secondary contacts of COVID-19 patients refused to go to institutional quarantine as asked by the BBMP. In that incident, around 100 people gathered and vandalised some camps,set up the authorities, threw chairs, and destroyed CCTV cameras and barricades.

The letter form came from MPs as a reminder of the controversy surrounding the 100-ft wide road at Indiranagar in the city when the BBMP decided to name it after renowned folklorist Dr S K Karim Khan in 2014. The BJP insisted that the road be named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, though the municipal corporation had passed a resolution in 2006 to name it after Dr Khan, who had a vast collection of oral epics and ballads. Due to the intervention of a pro-Kannada organisation, the road was finally named after Khan.