BJP leader promises to rename Hyderabad

Names of Secunderabad and Karimnagar will also be changed, Raja Singh tells voters

The trend of changing Muslim-sounding names of cities and towns seems to have crossed the Vindhyas and reached the south of India.

A controversial BJP leader and candidate in the Telangana assembly election, Raja Singh, has promised his electorate that if his party comes to power in the state in the next month’s polls, it will rename Hyderabad as “Bhagyanagar”.

“The names of Secunderabad and Karimnagar will also be changed,” he said. Giving the reason for seeking to rename the more than 400-year-old city of Hyderabad, founded by Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah, he said: “Originally, the city’s name was Bhagyanagar and he renamed it Hyderabad.”

Legend goes that the Qutub Shahi king had named the city after his beloved Bhagmati’s title of “Hyder Mahal”. Bhagmati was a danseuse he had fallen in love with, as the legend goes.

Others say the city was named after the fourth Caliph of Islam Hazrath Ali, whose title was “Haider”.

Known rabble rouser

Singh, against whom the police have booked many cases over hate speech, also accused the former Muslim kings of Hyderabad of perpetrating violence against Hindus and plundering temples.

Singh, who was seeking re-election from Goshamahal constituency of Hyderabad, is known to be a rabble rouser.

The BJP has been demanding the renaming several places in the state, with alternatives like “Induru” for Nizamabad and “Palamuru” for Mehbubnagar.

Singh has made these promises at a time when the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is a spree renaming historic cities. It has renamed Allahabad as Pryagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya.

The BJP has been demanding the renaming of several places in the state, with alternatives like ‘Induru’ for Nizamabad and ‘Palamuru’ for Mehbubnagar.