New Delhi: The Congress and the Samajwadi Party have protested Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement of changing the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj. But it has received mixed response from intellectuals, teachers, literary persons, lawyers and politicians in the city of holly confluence.

While the Congress has said that the change would diminish the importance that Allahabad had in the country’s freedom movement and does not make sense, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that Adityanath government’s proposed move was another example of its trait for “renaming”.

Today’s rulers were trying to show that they are working by just changing the name of Allahabad, said Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet.

“... They have even re-named Ardh Kumbh to Kumbh. This is toying with tradition and belief,” he said.

State Minister and government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma however alleged that the belief of people were hurt when the city was named Allahabad.

“Some persons are objecting to renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj. The objections are baseless. It is the right of the government to rename any city. If needed, we will rename more cities and roads. The mistakes done earlier will be rectified,” he said.

While many in the city have welcomed the move, others are calling it a political gimmick just before the Lok Sabha elections.

Saints and seers have however hailed the announcement, maintaining that the name has not been changed but the ancient place has been given its original name. The Akhada Parishad had raised the issue of changing the city’s name last year at a meeting with Adiyanath and he had promised to fulfill their demand by the Kumbh Mela 2019.

There had been attempts to change Allahabad’s name to Prayag during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party governments headed by Rajanath Singh and Kalyan Singh in the state. However, the proposal did not materialize following disapproval by the supporting parties.