The Bihar government has put on hold the inauguration of a park in Patna after a controversy broke out over its renaming.
A park in Kankarbagh locality of the state capital, which was earlier named after late Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has been renamed as Cocunut park by the department of environment, forest and climate change, and was to be inaugurated by its minister Tej Pratap Yadav, RJD president Lalu Prasad’s eldest son.
“For the time being, we have postponed the inauguration of the said park that was scheduled today. We have also asked the Patna Municipal Corporation to confirm if/when was the park notified as ‘Atal Park’,” said Bandana Preyashi, secretary of the department.
The function was postponed after the BJP and the local people raised an outcry.
“The park developed by the Bihar government in Kankarbagh in the name of Vajpayee and has his idol is being renamed as Coconut Park. It is offensive to rename the park which was named after Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is almost equivalent to a crime. The nation and public will question Tej Pratap Yadav. CM Nitish Kumar can still stop him. If he doesn’t, Yadav will change his name as well,” said Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai.
“The renaming shows the real face of chief minister Nitish Kumar and his respect for the late PM. A few days back, he had gone to pay his homage and today he is getting the park renamed,” said state BJP president Samrat Chaudhry.
The RJD hit back at BJP. “We don’t believe in renaming. It is the culture of BJP to change name,” said RJD spokesperson Mirtunjay Tiwary, citing the recent renaming of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), situated in the three-building complex of Teen Murti Bhavan in Delhi, to “Prime Minister’s Museum and Library Society”.
Tej Pratap Yadav, meanwhile, said, “It is named Coconut Park in official papers. Rumour is being spread that the park has been renamed. BJP people must have put up the board (of Atal Park).”
People aware of the matter said the park was renamed as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cocunut Park in December 2018 after a statue of the late PM was installed in the park by a foundation, The Situation and Development Foundation, and inaugurated by former vice chancellor of Patna University, S N P Sinha, as per the information on the plaque.
Officials aware of development said that the said park, along with seven other parks, were to be inaugurated by the minister. “He inaugurated others except this one,” said an official.
The department has planned 16 more parks in the state capital, which will be spread around areas like Kankarbagh, Patliputra and Rajendranagar.
The city already has 100 parks.
