Stating that the city was earlier named as Lakhanpur and Laxmanpur in the Treta Yug, the BJP MP claimed that Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula had renamed it Lucknow. Gupta said that Lucknow was gifted by Lord Ram to his brother and King of Ayodhya Laxman in the Treta Yug, which is why the city was known as Lakhanpur and Laxmanpur.
"Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which according to the local belief was gifted by Maryada Purushottam Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya King Shri Laxman ji in Treta Yug and for that reason it was named Lakhanpur and Laxmanpur, but later in the 48th century, Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula renamed and changed it to Lucknow. It has been called Lucknow in the same tradition," the BJP MP wrote in his letter to the Home Minister.
"It is worth mentioning here that today in a country rich in glorious cultural heritage, it seems completely wrong to give a signal of slavery by telling stories of luxury and wastefulness of the Nawabs of Lucknow to our future generation even in the 'AmritKaal'. Due to this, Lord Dalhousie acquired Awadh and merged it with the British Empire and Nawab Wajid Ali Shah accepted British subordination," he added.
Gupta requested Shah to rename the Uttar Pradesh capital city in order to "preserve India's cultural heritage".
"I request you to change the name of the capital of Uttar Pradesh Lucknow to Lakhanpur or Laxmanpur in AmritKaal in order to preserve India's cultural heritage and combine the glorious history by erasing the symbol of slavery," Gupta tweeted.
Notably, various BJP leaders have also referred to Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar and demands have been raised in the past to rename the city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also had referred to Telangana's capital as Bhagyanagar during his address to the party workers at BJP National Executive meeting in July 2022. (ANI)
