The Akbar Road signage leading off to New Delhi’s India Gate circle was defaced on Tuesday night. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
Even though the Centre’s proposal in this regard is pending, New Delhi’s famous Akbar Road, which houses several Union ministers, including BJP chief Amit Shah as well as the Congress office, was ‘labelled’ Maharana Pratap Road on Tuesday night. A poster — with “Maharana Pratap Road” printed on it — was pasted over the Akbar Road signboard leading off to India Gate circle. However, no one has yet taken responsibility for the act. The defacement came, incidentally, ahead of the birth anniversary of the great Mewar warrior on May 9. The poster was removed later in the day.
A media report quoted a spokesperson of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), under whose zone Akbar Road falls, as saying that it would launch an investigation into the incident. However, this is not the first time that an Akbar Road signboard has been defaced. Last year, signages bearing the name ‘Akbar Road’ in central Delhi were vandalised and posters were put up on them declaring the stretch as ‘Maharana Pratap Marg’. Hindu Sena, a right-wing outfit, had then claimed to be behind the act.
Tributes to the great warrior of Mewar Maharana Pratap on his birth anniversary today. He represented the glorious Rajputana valour and the spirit of self-sacrifice. #MaharanaPratap pic.twitter.com/MrdhJAfzNI
— Congress (@INCIndia) May 9, 2018
“It seems that we are still slaves to Mughal rulers who committed atrocities upon us. So our workers decided to paste stickers of Maharana Pratap on the board stating Akbar Road. This is the BJP government and we expect the government to do it,” Hindu Sena leader Vishnu Gupta had said. The string of defacements had begun after General V K Singh (retired) had written to the Union Minister for Urban Development, proposing that Akbar Road be renamed Maharana Pratap Road.
This is not the first time that an Akbar Road signboard has been defaced. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
Even though the plan to rename the road has been shelved by the ministry, it remains to be seen if Akbar faces the same fate as his great-grandson. In 2015, Aurangzeb Road in Lutyens’ Delhi was renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in honour of the late President. Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday Congress paid tribute to Maharana Pratap on Twitter.