A House meeting of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation saw uproar on Friday after the BJP-ruled civic body’s naming committee rejected a proposal to name a road in Aya Nagar after Congress leader Rajesh Pilot. The committee reasoned that roads and parks can only be renamed after freedom fighters and great personalities (mahapurush). The committee, headed by the Mayor, did clear several other proposals, including renaming of a road after Gurjeet Singh Pal, a former district-level BJP general secretary; and Rajender Singh, an Armyman who, according to the proposal, “spent lot of time post retirement taking care of cows”. In the proposal to rename a road after Gurjeet Singh, BJP councillor from Fateh Nagar Amarjeet Singh said he was a social worker who helped solve problems of people living in Hari Nagar. “He gave lot of time to party work and was also the general secretary of Jail Road shopkeepers’ association,” the proposal stated. This led to uproar in the House meeting, with Leader of the Congress Abhishek Dutt saying that the civic body is naming roads and parks after BJP workers, but denying the request to rename a road after Rajesh Pilot, who was a central government minister for ten years. But Mayor of the South Corporation, Narender Chawla, said that since there is already a road named after Rajesh Pilot in the capital, it would create confusion. The current road exists at the Janpath-Aurangzeb Road junction in the capital. Dutt, however, claimed this is not the reason the request was rejected. He also reasoned that there are several roads and parks in the capital named after the same person, like in the case of Bhagat Singh. The South civic body has received over 100 requests for a name change in the past one year, and around 40 requests have been accepted, including those by Bollywood actors, deities, local politicians, freedom fighters and Armymen. Area councillors usually float the idea of a name change. The suggestions then go to the naming committee, which takes a call and passes it to the Standing Committee. If the Standing Committee approves them, the names are finalised by the House. Striking a conciliatory note, Chawla said, “We will reconsider the proposal. There is no ill will against any leader, irrespective of the party he belongs to.” “Also, Dutt was not present in the meeting when we were discussing the proposal. If he were present, he would have got a chance to raise his objection,” he said.
