Even as Palakkad Municipality in Kerala is witnessing a heated battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition councillors over the naming of a skill development for differently abled children after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder K B Hedgewar, a fresh demand has been raised to rename a street called Jinna Nagar.
A BJP councillor moved a resolution on Tuesday, April 29, seeking to change the name of Jinna Nagar, a street in the town. It claimed that Jinna Nagar was named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The move was in the backdrop of the Pahalgam attack, a terror attack that took place in Kashmir on 22 April, which killed at least 26 people.
On Tuesday, April 29, the council meeting witnessed protests by councilors from both the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) who raised placards with slogans like ‘Who is Hedgewar?.’ The protest resulted in scuffles and police had to be called in.
The BJP is adamant that the skill centre would be named after Hedgewar. Parmeela Sasaidaran, Chairperson of the Municipality, told the media that since the local body is governed by the BJP, the party will decide the names for the buildings built during their tenure. “We will never go back from the decision,” she said.
Boban Muttamantha, district chairperson of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)’s cultural wing, said, since India has no rules for naming a building or a road, the political party that holds power in the local body can usually decide on names as they see fit. “What we can only do is express our disagreements politically. But while giving a name, they should follow the political decorum. The name should be one that can be preserved, and the next generation will know that person through this building or road,” he said.
Jinna street controversy
Sasikumar M, the BJP councillor from Ayyapuram East who is seeking to change the name of Jinna Nagar, a street in Palakkad’s Valiyangandi, wants it to be known after Chettur Sankaran Nair, the only Keralite who has served as the All India Congress Committee president. “We don’t need the Pakistan founder’s name here,” said. “In the light of Pahalgam, the name of the person who was responsible for the division of India, will create a division among people,” he said.