The renaming of a park in Patna’s Kankarbagh has drawn criticism from the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar administration. The current name of this park is Atal Bihari Vajpayee Park, named after the previous prime minister. The opposition BJP claims that the administration wants to rename it “Coconut Park.” Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister, intended to inaugurate the park on Monday. However, due to the sudden uproar that ensued, the inauguration was promptly postponed.
As reported by the news agency ANI, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai claimed, “The park developed by the Bihar government in Kankarbagh in the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and has his idol is being renamed as Coconut Park.”
“Today, Tejashwi Yadav is going to inaugurate it. It is offensive to rename the park which was named after Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is almost equivalent to a crime. The nation and public will question Tejashwi Yadav,” Nityananad Rai remarked.
The Bihar government delayed the inauguration due to an anticipated storm. However, it quickly countered the BJP’s claims of misinformation. “It is named Coconut Park in official papers…Rumour is being spread that the park has been renamed…BJP people must have put up the board (of Atal Park)..” stated Tej Pratap Yadav.
Bandana Preyashi, secretary of the Bihar Department of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, stated, “For the time being, we have postponed the inauguration of the said park that was scheduled today. We have also asked the Patna Municipal Corporation to confirm if/when was the park notified as ‘Atal Park’.”
Previously, the park bore the name “Coconut Park.” However, after Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s passing in 2018, the state’s NDA government chose to rename it in his honor. Now, the JD(U)-RJD government aims to restore the park to its original name.
“On one hand, Nitish Kumar garlands the memorial of Vajpayee ji and, on the other hand, Tej Pratap Yadav has changed the name of the park. This is a two-tone government. BJP opposes this and the party demands that the name of this park not be changed,” according to BJP spokesman Arvind Kumar Singh.