Silchar: The Barak Democratic Front (BDF) has demanded that the name of Assam University in Silchar be changed to ‘Silchar University’.
The demand comes in the wake of the Assam government’s recent decision to rename Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College in Barpeta as ‘Barpeta Medical College’.
Announcing the cabinet decision, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma recently said that most medical colleges in the state are named after their locations and that the Barpeta medical college was an exception, which often led people to assume it was a private institution.
Citing the same reasoning, the BDF has urged the state government to rename Assam University after the town where it is located.
In a video message, BDF convener Hrishikesh De said that two central universities were established in Assam around the same time—Tezpur University in Tezpur and Assam University in Silchar.
“While the institution in Tezpur was named after its location, the central university in Silchar was given the name Assam University,” he said.
De added that amid what he described as a wave of renaming institutions, roads and medical colleges in the state, the government should also consider renaming Assam University as Silchar University. According to him, fulfilling the demand would demonstrate that the state cabinet is impartial and not influenced by community considerations.
He said, “If this demand is met, it will show that the state cabinet is neutral and not biased toward any particular community.”
He further claimed that failure to address the issue would raise questions over the recent renaming decision involving Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College, which was named after Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the only President of India from Assam.
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De also said that, based on the same logic of naming institutions after their locations, the BDF is demanding that Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital in Guwahati be renamed “Panbazar Hospital.”
