Akhilesh Yadav's Question About Guavas Is A Swipe At UP Government

New Delhi:

Is it ‘Allahabadi Guava’ or ‘Prayagraji Guava’? A dig by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the ruling BJP government – which has rechristened several cities, roads and buildings in its over nine years of rule – had this question at the heart of it.

Mr Yadav posted a photo of himself with three baskets of the fruit- considered to be the delectable pride of Prayagraj, earlier Allahabad – in front of him.

“The public is asking whether the decision to change the name of ‘Allahabadi guava’ to ‘Prayagraji guava’ will be taken at the personal level or by the Cabinet,” wrote Mr Yadav in Hindi on X, formerly Twitter.

जनता पूछ रही है कि ‘इलाहाबादी अमरूद’ का नाम बदलकर ‘प्रयागराजी अमरूद’ करने का फ़ैसला व्यक्तिगत स्तर पर होगा या कैबिनेट से? pic.twitter.com/eZxRww3qpd

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) December 9, 2023

The post was a swipe at the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government which changed the name of the city from Allahabad to Prayagraj in 2018 – a move, the BJP claimed, to restore its ancient identity.

The party claimed that Prayagraj was the “real name” of the city which was changed to Illahabad by Mughal ruler Akbar.

This was not the first decision of its kind. In Uttar Pradesh itself, the government changed the name of the British-era train station Mughalsarai, naming it after BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya. It was followed by Faizabad being renamed Ayodhya as it was “what people wished”, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced then.

Over the years, the BJP government at the Centre has been changing colonial names of towns and cities claiming to help India move past what it has termed a mentality of slavery or just “restoring older names” and correcting “historical distortions”.

The Opposition has been criticising the renaming spree alleging the government wants to take credit for everything just by renaming cities, railway stations and roads.

This is not the first time that Akhilesh Yadav – a part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc – took a swipe at the BJP through the Allahabadi guavas. A few years ago, he posted an image where he was seen buying guavas from a fruitseller.

भाई अभी भी सबसे प्रसिद्ध अमरूद ‘इलाहाबादी अमरूद’ कहलाता है या उसका भी नाम बदलकर ‘प्रयागराजी अमरूद’ हो गया है? pic.twitter.com/kWSNLmwReO

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 23, 2021

“Is the famous fruit still called ‘Allahabadi guava’ or has its name also changed to ‘ Prayagraji guava’? Akhilesh Yadav wrote alongside the photo.

The size, colour, quality, texture and taste of the Allahabadi varieties (Safeda, Sangam, Lalit and Surkha) of guava make them extremely distinctive from the rest of the varieties of the fruit.