Trend Of Renaming Rolls Into Bihar With New BJP-Led Govt

Patna: With the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)–led government firmly ensconced in Bihar, the trend of renaming institutions and places has rolled in just like in other states ruled by the party.

A cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Wednesday evening decided to drop the name of late Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, from the zoo and a dairy technology institute in Patna. The move has led to condemnation from the Opposition.

The Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park will now be known as the ‘Patna Zoo’, while the Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Dairy Technology (SGIDT) has been renamed the Bihar State Institute of Dairy Technology.

The Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park Management and Development Society, which takes care of the zoo, has also been renamed the Patna Zoo Management and Development Society.

Spread across 153 acres and presently housing animals of 110 species, the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park was established in 1973. With its diverse flora and fauna, it is considered one of the best zoos in the country.

The SGIDT was established in Patna in 1980. It is considered a premier institution functioning under the Bihar Animal Sciences University, and is accredited by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). It offers BTech and MTech programmes in dairy technology.

Meanwhile, after learning about the Cabinet's decision to remove Sanjay Gandhi's name from the two institutions, the Congress slammed the BJP and the CM. “The state government should explain why it changed the name of the zoo and the dairy institute. The zoo was the first one in Bihar and Jharkhand and is famous across the country. Instead of changing its name, the BJP government and the new Chief Minister should have built another one, especially at Tarapur (Samrat’s constituency),” Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari told ETV Bharat.

Tiwari added that changing the name of old institutions was cowardice and a “useless work” by the government adding, “The British always targeted the Congress before Independence. Their disciples are now targeting it.”

Lambasting the government over the move, opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) state general secretary Chitranjan Gagan pointed out that the BJP, short on creating any institution, was indulging in the politics of changing the names of existing ones.

“The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has showcased its despicable mentality by changing the names of the zoo and the dairy technology institute. They are of regressive mentality hence hate the achievements of the previous governments,” Chitranjan added.

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