Two names. Two icons. One unambiguous signal. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, declared that the government medical college in Kannauj has been renamed in honour of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar — and went a step further, stating on the record that Bhadohi will continue to be known as Sant Ravidas Nagar, the name under which it has been officially recognised.

The announcement, shared by the Chief Minister's Office of Uttar Pradesh, quoted Adityanath directly: 'Mujhe batate hue prasannata hai ki hamari sarkar ne Kannauj ke Medical College ka namkaran phir se Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ji ke naam par kiya hai' — 'I am pleased to inform that our government has once again named the Kannauj Medical College after Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.' He added with equal clarity that Bhadohi 'will be known by the name Sant Ravidas Nagar only.'

Why Ambedkar's name on a medical college carries weight

B.R. Ambedkar — jurist, economist, and principal architect of the Indian Constitution — remains the most potent symbol of Dalit aspiration in Indian public life. Attaching his name to a medical institution in Kannauj, a district in the heartland of Uttar Pradesh, is a statement that reaches well beyond a nameplate. It signals whose legacy the ruling government claims to carry forward.

The word 'phir se' — 'once again' — in the Chief Minister's statement is doing significant work. It implies the college had previously carried Ambedkar's name, was changed at some point, and has now been restored. The research does not confirm the exact prior name or the timing of that earlier change, so those details remain unverified. What the announcement makes plain is that the current government is positioning this as a restoration, not a fresh honour.

Sant Ravidas Nagar: a name with a 30-year history

The district officially called Sant Ravidas Nagar — colloquially referred to as Bhadohi, famous for its carpet-weaving industry — was created and named in 1994 by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government as a tribute to the medieval saint-poet Sant Ravidas, a revered figure of social equality and a central icon for Dalit communities across north India.

Adityanath's declaration that the district 'will be known by the name Sant Ravidas Nagar only' reads as a firm pushback against any informal or administrative drift toward the Bhadohi label — a signal that the official name stands, and stands firmly.

The long game of symbolic politics in UP

Uttar Pradesh's political landscape has long been a contest over who owns the legacy of Ambedkar and Ravidas. BSP, SP, and BJP governments have each used institutional naming — colleges, districts, highways, stadiums — as a direct line of outreach to Dalit voters, who make up a decisive share of the state's electorate. Wednesday's twin announcements follow that well-worn pattern, but the double declaration — one restoration, one reaffirmation — in a single statement gives it unusual emphasis.

The Kannauj medical college renaming will now be watched for its operational follow-through: admissions, infrastructure, and whether the name change is accompanied by any resource commitment. For Bhadohi's residents and traders, the clarity on the district's official name settles, at least for now, a question that periodically resurfaces in administrative and commercial contexts.

In a state where a name can move votes, Yogi Adityanath has just put two very important names on the record.