Famous Urdu poet Syed Akbar Hussain, popularly known as Akbar Allahabadi, has been renamed as Akbar Prayagraj on the website of Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Services Commission (UPHESC), an autonomous body under the state government.
The Yogi Adityanath government had renamed Allahabad district as Prayagraj in 2018.
Besides Akbar, other poets who used “Allahabadi” as a suffix to their names have also been renamed as “Prayagraj”. The bizarre change was found in the 'About Prayagraj' section of the website.
While referring to the poets, who are from the city, the website says: “Besides Hindi literature, Persian and Urdu literature are also studied in the city. Akbar Prayagraj is a noted modern Urdu poet, and Nooh Narwi, Tegh Prayagraj , Shabnam Naqvi and Rashid Prayagraj have their origin in Prayagraj”.
The development has drawn flak from people over the internet, who called it as an attempt to wipe out all the remains of Allahabad.
It is not clear whether the changes were made intentionally or it was a technical glitch. The UPHESC has not issued any clarification thus far.