The new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mohan Yadav, has announced an unusual goal — to establish Ujjain as the place through which the Prime Meridian passes. He announced this in the assembly this week, declaring that Ujjain was the place through the zero degree longitude passed before it was overtaken by Paris.
Currently, the Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich in England – a system adopted in 1884.
“Ujjain is the global Prime Meridian”, Mr Yadav said, stressing that he would push to “correct the time of the world”.
“It was our (Ujjain’s) time that was known in the world, but Paris started to set the time and later, it was adopted by the British who considered Greenwich the Prime Meridian,” he told the state assembly on Thursday.
Certain ancient Hindu texts maintain that the Zero degree longitude and the Tropic of Cancer crosses each other through Ujjain, which gives it a high significance in astrology. Ancient astronomers like Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskaracharya were also said to have lived in Ujjain, which is one of the oldest cities in the country and has one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.
In the 1720s, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur had built an observatory in the city.
Mr Yadav is one of the first BJP leaders to have voiced the cause.
His declaration comes days after the BJP’s massive victory in the state, won amid concerns of anti-incumbency against the erstwhile Shivraj Chouhan government.
The state has mostly been ruled by the BJP since 2004.
