Hours after reports surfaced that the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Saturday proposed that the name of the Ramlila Maidan in the capital be renamed as a tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Manoj Tiwari dismissed such a possibility and alleged politically motivated people behind this rumour.
Speaking to reporters, Tiwari said, "Some politically motivated people are creating the rumour that name of Ramlila Maidan will be changed. We worship Lord Ram, so there's no question of a change in the name of Ramlila Maidan. If someone says something like that should be done, not necessary that you need to follow it."
However, the NDMC has also denied that there was any proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan. Brushing off the news report, NDMC Mayor Adesh Gupta said that there was no such proposal. "There is no proposal to rename Ramlila Maidan after Vajpayeeji. All reports suggesting so are wrong," he said.
The mayor denied that some NDMC councillors approached the civic body or his office with a suggestion to rename the ground after Vajpayee. "No councillor has even made any such suggestion," Gupta said.
The historic Ramlila Maidan located close to the New Delhi railway station serves as a venue of political rallies and other events, besides hosting Ramleela every year.
Vajpayee passed away at the age of 93 on August 16 after being under the medical care of a team of doctors at AIIMS. There was a national outpouring of grief with messages of condolences coming in from the international community as well.
There are several similar moves to pay tribute to the BJP stalwart who became the country's 10th Prime Minister. For instance, the Jharkhand government has proposed to rename several places in the state to honour Vajpayee. Chhattisgarh's new capital of Naya Raipur is set to be renamed Atal Nagar. Uttar Pradesh too had earlier decided to immerse the ashes of Vajpayee in all the holy rivers of the state, in a bid to pay respect to the five-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Lucknow.
