Nagpur: The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government on Wednesday announced that the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park will now be known as Orang national park.
Name of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi has been dropped by the BJP-led government.
The Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park is said to be the oldest game reserve in the state located on the north bank of Brahmaputra river.
This development comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi dropped Gandhi’s name from the prestigious Khel Ratna award.
State government spokesperson and I&PR Minister Pijush Hazarika while addressing a press conference after the meeting said “The Chief Minister had recently met the representatives of the Tea Tribe and Adivasi community and they had requested that we restore the original name of the park.”
The state government claims that the decision has been taken after several organisations had approached the government urging to change the name.
It was discovered as a wildlife sanctuary in 1985 and in 1999 it was upgraded to a national park.
The wildlife sanctuary was originally named after Rajiv Gandhi in 1992 and was finally named as Rajiv Gandhi national park in 2001 by the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in Assam.
