Akbar Road is briefly ‘renamed’

New Delhi: The tree-lined Akbar Road was briefly “renamed” as Maharana Pratap Road. It is suspected that someone had pasted the poster at night bearing the new name at the road signage.

The yellow and pink poster, apparently put up by vandals, has been removed from the signboard under police supervision. The iconic road, named after Mughal emperor Akbar, is home to some of the top politicians in the country and also the Congress headquarters.

May 9 marks the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap, a renowned king who went into battle with Akbar in 1576. In 2016, a BJP leader said he had proposed to the New Delhi Municipal Council, the civic body in charge of central Delhi, that the road should be renamed after Maharana Pratap. In 2015, the civic body had changed the name of another prominent road named after Akbar’s great-grandson Aurang-zeb, whose legacy is far from glorious.

Aurangzeb Road became Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road after the former President and missile man who died that year. Union minister VK Singh had written the same year to the government suggesting that Akbar Road or any other road in Lutyens’ Delhi — the portion designed in the heart of the capital — be renamed after Maharana Pratap.

Then Union minister of urban development Venkaiah Naidu had said the government was “not involved” in such proposals and added that its focus was on development, not naming and renaming of streets. However, the name of the Prime Minister’s street, Race Course Road, was later changed to Lok Kalyan Marg.