Plan to rename Akbar Road a product of communal mind: Justice Sachar to Delhi CM

NEW DELHI: The suggestion to rename Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road was a product of a "warped communal mind" and the Delhi government should take a stance against any such move, Justice Rajinder Sachar has said in a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Justice Sachar, a former Delhi High Court Chief Justice, said the Mewar ruler should have a road named after him but changing the name of the Mughal emperor was akin to trying to "rewrite history, which to me is blasphemy".

In a letter to the Urban Development Ministry on May 16, Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (retd) V K Singh had pitched for the rechristening, a demand already rejected by the Centre.

Referring to the renaming of Aurangzeb Road after former President APJ Abdul Kalam by an NDMC committee headed by Kejriwal, Justice Sachar suggested that to "avoid further communal passions" the CM should publicly announce that the AAP government is against renaming of Akbar Road.

"Off hand, as a suggestion, you could consider changing the name of Raj Niwas Marg to Maharana Pratap Singh Marg," Justice Sachar said in a statement.

"You must have read the atrocious statement of VK Singh, Minister of State in the Modi government...Only a warped communal mind could have suggested it, though Maharana Pratap Singh's bravery is fully accepted. Even the thought of renaming Akbar Road is totally unacceptable - as it is a product of an atrociously communal mindset," he wrote.