NEW DELHI: Parliament approved the renaming of Uttaranchal as Uttarakhand with the Rajya Sabha passing the Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill by voice vote on Thursday. The Lok Sabha passed it earlier.

There was a brief discussion in the Upper House with the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal speaking in favour of renaming the State and the Bharatiya Janata Party opposing it. Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) said though Parliament had the right to change the name of a State on the basis of an Assembly resolution, he wondered about the timing of the legislation with elections in the State a few months away. Why did not the ruling party take any step earlier?

The former Union Minister claimed that the name change would cost the State exchequer up to Rs. 500 crore. "Had the change been proposed earlier, I would not have opposed it."

Jai Prakash Agarwal and Satyavrat Chaturvedi (both Congress) pointed out that all agitations for a separate State had taken place under the banner of Uttarakhand and not Uttaranchal. Incidentally, Mr. Chaturvedi is the lone member from Uttaranchal in the House. Pradesh Congress Committee president Harish Rawat was not present.

Seeking to set the record straight, Kalraj Mishra (BJP) said the name Uttaranchal was decided upon after consulting as many stakeholders as possible. Brinda Karat (CPI-M) supported the renaming but pointed out that her party was not in favour of carving out new States for, this route alone could not ensure development. The lack of development after the creation of Uttaranchalhurt the feelings of the people, and this attempt would not bring electoral benefits to both the Congress and BJP.

Her intervention saw a brief exchange of words with Sushma Swaraj (BJP), who claimed that she was the first to propose the name Uttaranchal in Parliament.

Objections technical

Replying to the discussion, Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal said the BJP's objections were technical.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail