Shah is Persian word, BJP should change its president’s name first: Irfan Habib

New Delhi, Nov 11: Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) for its name changing spree Historian Irfan Habib on Sunday said that the party should change names of their members first.

Referring to the party president Amit Shah's name, Habib pointed out that Shah itself is a Persian name and is not derived from Sanskrit.

"Shah is a Persian word, it is not from Sanskrit. If they (BJP) are changing the names of cities, they should first start with their own names," Professor Irfan Habib said.

Historian S Irfan Habib has criticised the BJP leader's demand to change Muzaffarnagar's name terming it as "blatantly communal".

"Now the demand to change the name of Muzaffarnagar to Laxmi Nagar is blatantly a communal demand. No one changed the name before, it was established in 1633 by Syed Muzaffar Khan, a noble in Shahjahan' time. And the demand is being made Sangeet Som, accused in the riots," Habib tweeted.

On Saturday, UP Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar had given a similar remark stating that the BJP should first change the names of their Muslim leaders before changing the names of cities.

Rajbhar said that the BJP should change names of three of their ministers - National Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, UP Minister Mohsin Raza - if the party feels that Mughalsarai and Faizabad were named after Mughals.

Rajbhar, who is also the president of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, asked to change names of three Muslim faces of BJP first and then change the city names.

Rajbhar also added that no one else has given the things which Muslims gave. "Should we throw away GT road? Who built the Red Fort? Who built the Taj Mahal?" Rajbhar said.

Recently, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath's government has changed the name of Faizabad district as Ayodhya, Allahabad as Prayagraj and earlier, it had renamed Mughalsarai after Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

Now, BJP leaders have demanded to change the name of Agra as 'Agrawal or Agravan', while other has demanded to change Muzaffarnagar name to Laxmi Nagar.