An Uttar Pradesh department has set in motion an exercise to examine if this city was known by any other name in ancient times, triggering speculation that the Yogi Adityanath Government is planning to rename Agra.
Agra’s Bhm Rao Ambedkar University has now constituted a committee to go into the issue, following a letter from the local administration, Vice Chancellor Arvind Dixit said. According to him, some Agra residents posted a demand to rename Agra on the State Government’s Stamp and Registration Department website. This was then referred to Agra administration, which in turn approached the university.
In Lucknow, there was no official confirmation on any move to rename City of Taj. However, in recent past, Allahabad has been renamed Prayagraj and Faizabad district is now called Ayodhya. Ambedkar university’s History department head Sugam Anand said a panel will examine the issue. “A panel has been formed comprising local research scholars, research students and myself. The committee’s work will be to delve into the archival and documented records in history to see if Agra ever had an ancient name,” he said.