The issue of naming the Dehradun airport at Jolly Grant has become a point of a political battle between ruling BJP and opposition Congress. Recently a proposal to rename the airport after the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was passed by the airport advisory committee and sent to the union government. The former chief minister and Member of Parliament from Haridwar Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank chaired the meeting of the committee.
The chief spokesperson of Uttarakhand Congress Garima Dasauni said on Monday that the foundation stone of the Dehradun airport was laid by late Brahmdutt and in the year 2016 the then chief minister Harish Rawat had sent a proposal to name the airport after Adi Guru Shankaracharya. She said that the former CMs Trivendra Singh Rawat and Nishank talk about naming the airport after former PM Vajpayee which is an insult of Adi Guru Shankaracharya and more than 80 crore followers of Hinduism. Dasauni said that the BJP should refrain from engaging in politics on the institutes set up by the Congress party. She said that there is no doubt that the former PM Vajpayee was a leader who is accepted by all and he deserves honour but BJP leaders and the party should answer as to why they are against naming the airport after Adi Guru Shankaracharya.
