New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the Bajrang Dal had no role to play in the renaming of Aurangzeb Road as APJ Abdul Kalam Road in New Delhi.
The idea came from a journalist of Pakistan-origin.
According to an article published in RSS' mouthpiece 'Organiser', Pakistani scribe Tariq Fateh, who now resides in Canada, had toured India in 2013 and was shocked to see a road named after Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Fateh had then appealed to the Indian Muslims to contemplate on changing the name of the Aurangzeb Road.
He wanted the road to be named as Dara Shikoh, the brother of Aurangzeb.
The `Organiser` reports that after the death of Kalam, Fateh on his Twitter account appealed to rename Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
Following this, a BJP MP from Delhi appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to change the name of Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road, in the late former president's honour.
The tree-lined Aurangzeb Road is located in the heart of Delhi and has several billionaires living there.
Aurangzeb was the sixth Mughal emperor and ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent in the 17th century.
In 2014, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) had demanded that Aurangzeb Road be named after Sikh guru Teg Bahadur, who was executed by Aurangzeb.
