Amit Shah’s Name of Persian Origin, Needs Renaming: Irfan Habib

Habib said that since the name ‘Gujarat’ also comes from the Persian word ‘Gujaratra’, BJP should change that too.

Eminent Historian and Professor Emeritus, Irfan Habib.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Commenting on the BJP’s clamour over renaming states, eminent historian Irfan Habib has suggested that the party should consider changing the name of its chief – Amit Shah – as his name stems from Persian origin.

Speaking to The Times of India, the 87-year-old professor said that even the name ‘Gujarat’, comes from the Persian word ‘Guajaratra’, which too poses a problem for the party, which seems to be on a mission to change the name of any place which has an Islamic origin.

“The BJP government’s renaming spree is very much in line with the RSS’ 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 told the newspaper.

Habib’s comments came in response to BJP MLA Jagan Prasad Garg’s letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, requesting him to change the name of the city ‘Agra’ to ‘Agrawal’.

The reason that Garg offered was first a reference to the mythical tale of a densely forested region next to the Yamuna, known as ‘Agravan’ and second, to the presence of the Agarwal community in the city, who are all followers of Maharaja Agrasen, the report added.

Dismissing Garg’s reasons, Habib said that not only is the entire story behind Maharaja Agrasen a “myth”, the Agarwals origins come from Agroha in Haryana and not Agra. Hence, he said, both the reasons for renaming the city of Agra “hold no 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,” he told The Times of India.

(With inputs from The Times of India)