The nine state-owned medical colleges to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon are likely to be named after local deities, leaders of Jan Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Official sources said that these medical colleges were likely to be inaugurated sometime in August.
With this, the total number of medical colleges in the state would increase to 33. The medical education department has already proposed names of seven of the nine medical colleges. However, a final decision is yet to be taken on the names.
The government has already finalised the name of Pratapgarh medical college, which has been named after Sonelal Patel, the founder of the Apna Dal, a Kurmi OBC based political party and an ally of the BJP.
The proposed names have caused a stir with the opposition accusing the BJP of looking for political benefits everywhere, a charge that the ruling party has denied. BJP leaders from Pratapgarh have also voiced reservations over naming the medical college after Apna Dal founder. Pratapgarh has a significant population of the party’s voter base, the Kurmis.
The medical college at Siddharthnagar is expected to be named after Madhav Prasad Tripathi, the first president of the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit in 1980. Tripathi was among the tallest leaders of the Jan Sangh in the 1970s.
The medical college in Etah is expected to be named after Avanti Bai Lodhi, who was part of the 1857 rebellion against the British East India Company. The BJP functionary quoted above said Avanti Bai was a member of the Lodhi Rajput community, a dominant OBC caste in Etah , Aligarh, Bulandshahr and several other districts of Western UP.
The sources said the medical college at Jaunpur could be named after former Jan Sangh and BJP leader Umanath Singh. Singh was a four-time MLA from Bayalasi constituency in Jaunpur.
The sources said the medical college in Deoria would be named after Devraha Baba, also spelled as Deoraha Baba.
In Mirzapur, the UP government has proposed to name the new medical college after the deity Maa Vindhyavasini. A temple of the deity is famous in the Mirzapur region.
In Ghazipur, the medical college is expected to be named after Vishwamitra, a saint of ancient India. The reason behind naming the medical college after Vishwamitra is that his father’s name was Raja Gadhi. Ghazipur district was earlier called Gadhipur.
The medical colleges at Fatehpur and Hardoi districts have yet to get names. Sources said they too would be named after local saints or Jan Sangh leaders.
The opposition Samajwadi Party has slammed the government over the move, accusing it of indulging in politics of symbolism.
“The BJP has a habit of doing politics over names. They change any place’s name to suit their politics,” said SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary. He claimed that most of these medical colleges were approved during the previous Akhilesh Yadav government.
“The BJP can keep whatever name it wants but the public knows that only the SP government has done credible work for health infrastructure,” he added.