Amit Shah's name of Persian origin, BJP should change that first: Historian Irfan Habib

AGRA: Amid the name-changing spree of BJP governments in various states, eminent historian Irfan Habib has said that the first name the party should consider changing is that of its chief Amit Shah. "His surname 'Shah' is of Persian origin and not of Gujarati," he said.

The 87-year-old Aligarh Muslim University professor emeritus added, "Even the term Gujarat itself is of Persian origin. It was called Gurjaratra earlier. They should also change it."

Habib said, "The BJP governments’ renaming spree is very much in line with the RSS’s Hindutva policy. Just like the neighbouring country Pakistan where everything that is not Islamic has been removed, BJP and right-wing supporters want to change things which are non-Hindu, particularly of Islamic origin."

He was reacting to five-term BJP MLA Jagan Prasad Garg’s letter to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, requesting him to rename the city of Taj as 'Agravan' as the city is home to the Agrawal community, who are the followers of Maharaja Agrasen.

Speaking with TOI, the lawmaker said, "The term Agra has no meaning or relevance. Nearly 5,000 years ago, the entire belt close to Yamuna was a densely forested area and people knew it as Agravan, which finds mention in Mahabharata too. Later, during the Mughal regime, the city was renamed as Akbarabad."

"The government should rename it to Agravan for another reason. Agra city is the biggest home to the Agrawal community and they are the followers of Maharaja Agrasen, who once ruled Agravan. Over four lakh Agrawals live in the city of Taj," the MLA said.

Reacting to the proposal to rename Agra, Habib said, "The entire history of Maharaja Agrasen is mythical. It’s nothing but fiction. Secondly, the Agrawal community claims its origin from Agroha in Haryana, and not Agra. So, both the arguments for renaming the city do not hold water."

"We first hear the term ‘Agra’ during the reign of Sikandar Lodhi in the 15th century but before that, the area was more prominently known as Doab – land between Ganga and Yamuna," the historian said.