NEW DELHI—One of Delhi's most elite addresses, Aurangzeb Road, will now be called the APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to rename it in honour of the former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
This evening, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet announced the decision made by NDMC.
Congrats. NDMC jst now decided to rename Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 28, 2015
Earlier this month, BJP's Mahesh Girri wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that Aurangzeb Road should be named after Dr Kalam, who died on July 27.
"As a tribute to the People's President, I propose to rename the 'Aurangzeb Road' in New Delhi to 'Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road'. In my opinion, this will be a great way of preserving his memories and legacy forever," wrote Mahesh Girri.
Later, talking to the media, Girri had justified his demand saying that the name Aurangzeb symbolises "cruelty" and "if there has been wrongs we can always correct them."
But, Girri wasn't the first one to suggest a name change to the road.
In 2014, a prominent Sikh body in Delhi had petitioned PM Modi to change the name of Aurangzeb Road to Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Road.
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