The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday termed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to rename Faizabad district as Ayodhya as "Tughlaqi" (autocratic) and said it should have taken people's opinion.
The rechristening of Faizabad was announced by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier on Tuesday. The decision comes close on the heels of the state's BJP-led government renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj.
Taking a dig at Aditynath, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the chief minister should first change his name to Ajay Singh Bisht if he is so "fond" of changing names.
"The opinion of the local residents of a place should be taken before changing its name. India is a democratic country. It's a 'Tughlaqi' decision," he said.
Singh said despite the efforts of a nawab to rename Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district as Mustafabad, the local people, most of whom are Muslims, stuck to the old name.
Earlier this year, the Uttar Pradesh government had also renamed the Mughalsarai railway station as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya station.