Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb - one of the important figures in Indian history, came into news as the New Delhi Municipal Council erased Aurangazeb’s name from the signboard of a prominent road. The name was changed as APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
The event has lead to a new debate of changing the names of the public places which have been given names of the historic figures.
If name of Aurangzeb is to be changed from every public place then the list is quite lengthy. According to the 2011 Census, at least 177 towns and villages in India carry the name of Aurangzeb.
The most popular among those is Aurangabad, with 63 of them across the country of which 48 are in Uttar Pradesh — the state also tops the overall list with 114.
Aurangzeb was a notable expansionist Emperor as during his reign, the Mughal Empire temporarily reached its greatest extent.
During his lifetime, victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to more than 3.2 million square kilometres and he ruled over a population estimated as being in the range of 100–150 million subjects, with an annual yearly tribute of £38,624,680 in 1690 (the highest in the world at that time).