BJP MP urges Amit Shah to change Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow's name to this…

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sangam Lal Gupta on Tuesday urged Union home minister Amit Shah to change the name of Uttar Pradesh's capital city Lucknow to ‘Lakhanpur’ or ‘Laxmanpur’ citing that “Lord Ram had gifted the city to brother and King of Ayodhya Laxman in the Treta Yug”.

In a letter to Shah dated February 7, Gupta wrote, “Lucknow - the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which according to the local belief was gifted by Maryada Purushottam Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya King Shri Laxman ji in Treta Yug and for that reason, it was named Lakhanpur and Laxmanpur. However, later in the 48th century, Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula renamed and changed it to Lucknow. It has been called Lucknow in the same tradition.”

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“It is worth mentioning here that today in a country rich in glorious cultural heritage, it seems completely wrong to give a signal of slavery by telling stories of luxury and wastefulness of the Nawabs of Lucknow to our future generation even in the 'Amrit Kaal',” he added.

“…Due to this, Lord Dalhousie acquired Awadh and merged it with the British Empire, and Nawab Wajid Ali Shah accepted British subordination,” Gupta said.

Earlier, the MP had tweeted the letter, asserting that the name must be changed in order to “preserve India's cultural heritage”.

“I request you to change the name of the capital of Uttar Pradesh Lucknow to Lakhanpur or Laxmanpur in Amrit Kaal in order to preserve India's cultural heritage and combine the glorious history by erasing the symbol of slavery,” Gupta tweeted.

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Sangam Lal Gupta was elected as BJP member to Lok Sabha in 2019 from Pratapgarh seat. Prior to that, he was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly representing the Pratapgarh Vidhan Sabha constituency in 2017 as a member of Apna Dal (Sonelal). He was promoted to the National General Secretary of BJP OBC Morcha in March 2021.