Renaming of Gurgaon is an exercise in 'mere superficialities': Congress

The Congress party on Wednesday called the renaming of Gurgaon as 'Gurugram' and its neighbouing district Mewat as 'Nuh', as 'mere superficialities' and advised Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his government to create an atmosphere of investment, development, peace and harmony in the state rather than follow a vitriolic policy of divide and rule.

"Instead of branding and rebranding which are mere superficialities, the Khattar government and the BJP would be better advised to create an atmosphere of investment, peace and harmony in the state instead of following a vitriolic policy of divide and rule," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told ANI here.

"Gurgaon has a definite international branding. Instead of believing in superficialities of re-changing names, Khattar government would have been better advised to create the necessary infrastructure as also social harmony which is so important for Gurgaon to be further propelled as a vehicle for Haryana development plans," he added.

He further said, "Gurgaon currently has nightmarish traffic issues, It has serious law and order issues, it has sewage, electricity, water problems that Gurgaon residence face every day. Instead of addressing all this which would make Gurgaon and strengthen Gurgaon as a hub for international investments, all that Khattar government is doing is superficiality of changing names."

Chief Minister Khattar had yesterday approved proposals to change the names Gurgaon as Gurugram and Mewat as Nuh.

The district (now Gurgaon), which has been existence since the times of Mahabharata, was given as gurudakshina to Guru Dronacharya by his students, the Pandavas; and hence, it came to be known as 'Guru-gram', which in course of time got distorted to Gurgaon.

Announcing the decision, Haryana Government's official spokesman on Tuesday said, "The decision to change the name of Gurgaon as Gurugram has been taken on the basis of representations received at several fora that it would be appropriate to rename Gurgaon as Gurugram."

"Haryana is a historic land of the Bhagwat Gita and Gurgaon had been a centre of learning. It had been known as Gurgaon since the times of Guru Dronacharya. Gurgaon was a great centre of education, where the princes used to be provided education. Therefore, since long the people of the area had been demanding that Gurgaon be renamed as Gurugram," he added.

Mewat, he said, in fact is a geographical and cultural unit and not a town.

"It is spread beyond Haryana in the adjoining States of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The headquarters of Mewat district is at Nuh town," he said.

The people of area and the elected representatives had been demanding that the name of Mewat be changed as Nuh, he added.