Road signboards named after Mughals defaced in Delhi

Members of the Bharatiya Baudh Sangh allegedly vandalised road signboards named after Mughal and Delhi Sultanate rulers in Lutyens’ Delhi on Friday, covering them with black spray paint and pasting new names over them.

Signboards under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) jurisdiction were defaced. Shahjahan Road was renamed Veer Savarkar Marg, Tughlaq Lane was renamed Ahilya Bai Marg, Akbar Road was renamed Maharishi Valmiki Marg, and Humayun Road was renamed Balasaheb Thackeray Marg.

The NDMC did not issue an immediate response to the incident.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Bharatiya Baudh Sangh President Sanghpriya Rahul said, “We urge the prime minister and home minister to remove Mughal names from public spaces as they symbolise a history of atrocities. We do not need such names.”

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This act follows the March 20 defacement of Akbar Road’s signboard by unidentified individuals protesting the alleged vandalism of Maharana Pratap’s statue at Kashmiri Gate ISBT.

Signboards at Akbar Road and Humayun Road were also vandalised last month, with posters of Chhatrapati Shivaji pasted over them. Additionally, BJP leaders Dinesh Sharma and Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar recently replaced the nameplates at their Tughlaq Lane residences with “Swami Vivekananda Marg” while retaining “Tughlaq Lane” in brackets.

(With inputs from PTI)