UP Govt decides to ‘correct’ Dr Ambedkar’s name by inserting his father Ramji’s name

Lucknow, Mar 29: Honouring the tradition in vogue in Maharashtra to put father’s name in the middle of your own name, the Uttar Pradesh State Government headed by Yogi Aadityanath has decided to introduce the name of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s father ‘Ramji’ as the middle name of Dr Ambedkar.

Ramji is the name of Dr Ambedkar’s father and as per tradition in Maharashtra, father’s name is always written in the middle by his son and unmarried daughters. Accordingly the new name will be Dr Babasahen Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar'.

The correction will be done in all the official correspondence and records, a government order said. However, this order has raised many an eyebrow in the Opposition camp as this change is being effected ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

UP Principal Secretary (Administration) Jitendra Kumar issued this order on Wednesday, an official source said on Thursday.

The Samajwadi Party sensed politics in this move of the Yogi government and cried hoarse that the move was politically motivated in view of the 2019 general elections. Commenting on the order Samajwadi Party leader Anurag Bhadoria alleged that the BJP was playing politics with the name of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, to attract the Dalit voters.

Swami Prasad Maurya Cabinet Minsiter however, rejected the SP leader’s allegation stating that there was no politics and no ulterior motive in amending the name of Dr Ambedkar.

In fact, it was UP Governor Ram Naik who initiated the campaign way back in December 2017 to write Dr Ambedkar’s name in the correct way. Naik cited the pages of the Constitution Ambedkar signed to substantiate his claim.

The spelling of Ambedkar in English will remain unchanged, but the Hindi it will be spelt as ‘Aambedkar’.

Governor Ram Naik had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister and also the Babasahib Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha, expressing concerns over the prevalent “incorrect spelling” of Ambedkar.

"Ramji" was the name of the father of B R Ambedkar and as per practice in Maharashtra, father's name is used as the middle name by his son.