Rename Azamgarh as Aryamgarh, demands Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini

The Hindu Yuva Vahini wants Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh renamed as Aryamgarh.

A poster put up at the venue of a Hindu Yuva Vahini state office bearers’ meet in Azamgarh earlier this month referred to the district as Aryamgarh.

The HYV is a right-wing outfit floated by Yogi Adityanath, the UP chief minister, in 2002.

Hindu Yuva Vahini state coordinator Rakesh Rai, Varanasi division coordinator Ambarish Singh Bhola and office bearers from other regions attended the meeting in Azamgarh on April 16.

Rakesh Rai told HT on the phone, “Azamgarh is the land of sage Durvasa. His hermitage was based near the confluence of the Tamsa and the Majhuee rivers in Phulpur area. Many of his contemporary sages used to meditate in pockets along the rivers. Therefore, we want it (the district) to be renamed as Aryamgarh.” The HYV had been raising the demand for a decade, said Rai, who has been given additional charge of executive president of the organisation. Rai said Aryamgarh became Azamgarh a few centuries ago. It should get back its original name, he demanded.

Supporting this view, Ambarish Singh Bhola said: “For us, Azamgarh is Aryamgarh. Even Maharajji (Yogi Adityanath) called Azamgarh Aryamgarh in his many public speeches in the past. Our office bearers, workers and volunteers all write Aryamgarh, not Azamgarh.”

Asked if the outfit had plans to raise their demand before the CM, Bhola said he was aware of the demand. On their part, HYV members have started referring to Azamgarh as Aryamgarh.

History says the town was founded by Nawab Azam in 1665 and was named after him.

Bhola said that HYV office bearers’ meet discussed the strategy to strengthen the organisation and carry its agenda forward across the state.

“We formed a plan to keep opportunists away from the outfit. The HYV has also plans to keep a vigil on the people who are no way connected with it but are using its name for their vested interests,” Bhola said.

Complaints will be registered against such elements as soon as they are traced, he said.

Azamgarh is also the parliamentary constituency of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

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