Hyderabad: City names are identities of people and the civilisation of those times, and randomly changing them is not going to serve any purpose, said members of the first Youth Baithak of the Learn Project. The Baithak, held at Lumbini Park here, had a heterogenous mix of 70 youths who had come from various colleges.
Learn Project is an initiative of MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi to make the youth aware about social problems and to empower them with knowledge about their Constitutional rights.
At the meet, 10 speakers discussed the issue of name change with Dr Kinnera, a strategy consultant. Prof Mushtaq Kaw, a professor of history at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, facilitated the conversation. Eight of the speakers spoke against change of names. Many students felt that changing names was superficial and done to deviate masses’ attention from the actual issues.
“A city’s name is the identity of its people and remi-nds one of a culture and lives of the people of those times,” said Sakina Hyder from OU Law College.
“When name changes take place, it should be in sync with the culture and history of the place. It must be harmoniously done and accepted by the people,” said Shadan Medical College student Thamee Shahid adding that, “The history of a place must always be looked into before changing a name.”
“Is it necessary to change the name of a city,” asked Syeda Samreen Al Attas from Sultan ul Uloom College of Pharmacy. “We have problems of unemployment, education and women’s safety. These are real problems which must be addressed first rather than changing names.”
The crowd wanted to know if there were any initiatives being taken to resolve the real issues like quality education, health and jobs.
