The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to introduce ‘Ramji’ as the middle name of the Father of the Constitution B R Ambedkar in all official correspondence and records, an order that has raised Opposition hackles ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A government order to this effect was issued on Wednesday night by Principal Secretary (Admin) Jitendra Kumar, an official spokesman said here on Thursday.
The order soon got mired in political controversy with the opposition Samajwadi Party crying hoarse that the move smacked of politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“The BJP government is playing politics with the name of the Dalit icon,” SP leader Anurag Bhadoria said hours after the state government issued the order.
He charged the state government with politicising Ambedkar’s name for attracting Dalit vote bank.
UP Cabinet Minister Swami Prasad Maurya, however, said there was no politics in the decision and no ulterior motive should be seen in it.
The campaign to write Ambedkar’s name in the correct way was initiated by Governor Ram Naik in December 2017, citing the manner in which Ambedkar signed on the pages of the Constitution.
The spelling of Ambedkar in English will remain unchanged, but the Hindi it will be spelt as ‘Aambedkar’.
The Governor had written to the Prime Minister, 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.
