Mumbai: The Modi government’s nod to the Maharashtra government’s proposal to formally rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad is likely to help the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena score points ahead of civic polls in some of the state’s major cities including Aurangabad, scheduled later this year.
The state government had proposed that Aurangabad and Osmanabad — named after Islamic rulers Aurangzeb and Mir Osman Ali Khan — be renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively.
The move comes days after the Election Commission (EC) officially recognised the Shinde-faction as ‘Shiv Sena’ and allotted it the party’s traditional ‘bow and arrow’ symbol.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs wrote to the Maharashtra government Friday saying it has “no objection” to the name change proposal. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis shared a copy of the letter on Twitter.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called the decision a “historic step”.
“Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray’s dream of renaming Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv has come true,” he said in a statement, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Ambadas Danve, leader of opposition in the legislative council, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), who is from Aurangabad, also welcomed the move.
“This was first initiated by Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray in the late 80s. Post that, several proposals were sent by the corporation, but were not accepted. First, the cabinet led by Uddhav Thackeray passed this proposal, and later the new government took it forward and the central government today approved it. So I welcome this decision,” Danve told the media.
The name change demand was a long-standing poll agenda of the undivided Shiv Sena since the 1980s, while driving its Hindutva agenda in the state.
Aurangzeb was said to have brutally murdered Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son, Sambhaji, in 1689 — as a result, the Shiv Sena’s demand struck a chord with a large number of Hindus, who informally started referring to Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar.
The name ‘Dharashiv’ finds significance in the city’s folklore with the Dharashiv caves being just eight kilometres away from the city.
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The name change proposal
The former Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had taken the decision to rename the two places on 29 June 2022, hours before Thackeray resigned as chief minister. The MVA comprises the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
Thackeray resigned after his government was reduced to a minority following a Shinde-led rebellion of Shiv Sena MLAs. Shinde then joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government in Maharashtra and became the CM.
The Shinde-led government in July 2022 stayed the former MVA government’s decision on the name change saying the cabinet took the decision when the government had lost the majority support, and that it may not pass legal scrutiny. The same month, the government passed a fresh proposal to rename the two places.
Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had first demanded that Aurangabad be renamed Sambhajinagar in 1988 after the Shiv Sena contested its first-ever municipal corporation election in Aurangabad city. Since then, the undivided Shiv Sena fought every election here on this agenda, referring to Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar in all its communication.
In 1995, the undivided Shiv Sena made its first formal attempt to rename Aurangabad when the Manohar Joshi-led Shiv Sena-BJP government was in power, and the party by then had a firm hold on the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation.
A Congress corporator, however, challenged it, and the Supreme Court ordered a status quo in 1996. Like Sambhajinagar for Aurangabad, the undivided Shiv Sena has always referred to Osmanabad as Dharashiv.
The name Osmanabad was after Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last ruler of Hyderabad. Some say that the place was called Dharashiv much before it became Osmanabad, after the Dharashiv caves, about 8 km from the city in the Balaghat mountains. The caves date back to the middle of the seventh century AD.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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