Editorial, The Statesman, 23 February, 2000 The aromatic biryani and succulent kebabs for which Lucknow is well-known will soon disappear if the government of UP are allowed to work their will. The Awadhi delicacies have become intolerable to the RSS family because of their association with the Muslim past of the city ... The real issue of course is not food but eradicating the city's Muslim past, and to this end the BJP has resurrected its nine year old demand of changing the city's name from Lucknow to Laxmanpur, saying that the city was built by Laxman. When the BJP first came to power in UP under Kalyan Singh, a major point on their agenda, apart from rewriting history textbooks, was changing the names of places with Muslim associations.

The others identified included Allahabad, to be changed to Prayag ... Faizabad would be changed to Saket, and the district of Faizabad to Ayodhya. The state Government did their worst but due to virulent opposition to this communal move, they were forced to ease off and finally the government was dismissed before they could proceed.

The renewed demand under Ram Prakash Gupta is instigated at the instance of the RSS, who realise that if they are able to set a precedent by rooting for Laxmanpur then there are other changes waiting in the wings, e.g. Ahmedabad to Karnavati, Delhi to Indraparsth and new names ... for Aligarh, Kanpur, Hyderabad ... It. does not rest with changing names of cities, Muslim sounding localities must be renamed too. The area in Lucknow known as Tilewali Masjid because of the large mosque on the hill, they argue, should be called Laxman Tila because it was built, so the fantasy goes, after destroying a (Mandir in) Laxman Tila. What is the proof? In the words of Swami Vamđev, in the context of the demand to break down the Jama Masjid in Delhi - "break down the mosque and you will see the proof"! He (also) argued that the Babari Masjid "fell down on its own!" ... Logic fails to meet such arguments ... Can we please have a cultural and social response?