Social media posts claiming Delhi's iconic Mughal Gardens at the Rashtrapati Bhavan has been renamed to 'Dr. Rajendra Prasad Garden', are false.
The claim is believable as the Hindu Mahasabha had demanded the gardens be renamed to Rajendra Prasad Udyan, according to the news reports published in December 2019.
However, no decision to rename the gardens has been taken yet.
BOOM reached out to the Rashtrapati Bhavan where an official denied the claim. "The rumours have been viral for quite a while, maybe four or five days, but it is not true. There has not been any name change of the kind as yet," an official at the Rashtrapati Bhavan told BOOM. The person did not wish to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
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The Mughal Gardens at the Rashtrapati Bhavan is one of the three main gardens. It is spread over 15 acres of land and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1917. The design was an amalgamation of the Mughal style and the English style plantation, thus, the name Mughal Gardens. It is a popular tourist attraction among those visiting the city.
Dr Rajendra Prasad was an Indian lawyer, journalist, and the first president of independent India.
BOOM found the fake claim has been circulating online for the past few days.
A Tweet by a user named Smita Deshmukh garnered over 2,500 retweets. The screenshot of the tweet is being shared on Facebook as well. The tweet reads: "Best news in #covid times - The Mughal Garden inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan is now renamed to Dr. Rajendra Prasad Garden"
Posts can be seen below and its archived version can be accessed here.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a relevant keywords search to find any such news reports but did not find any news report stating the gardens had been renamed. The only news reports we found were about the gardens shutting down to visitors on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read here
The Press Information Bureau's Fact Check handle also tweeted refuting the viral claims about the change of names.
We also looked at the official website of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and found that it still refers to the gardens as Mughal Gardens.