Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday, 2 December, said that if the BJP was voted into power, it would rename the city of Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar.
The BJP leader was speaking at a rally in Goshamahal constituency in the city, along with incumbent party MLA Raja Singh.
Raja Singh, known for making provocative statements, has repeatedly been booked for hate speech and inciting communal violence by the police and is the sitting MLA from Goshamahal up for reelection.
“If you want to see Hyderabad transform itself into Bhagyanagar, then you should give BJP a chance. While other parties are caught up in vote bank politics, the BJP is the only party that can fearlessly focus on good governance and development. Raja Singh has represented your issues forcefully in the past four years. Now, it is time to vote him back as an MLA.”Yogi Adityanath, was quoted as saying.
Just earlier this month, Raja Singh triggered a fresh row after he said that he would work towards renaming the city of Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’ if the BJP was voted to power in the state in the upcoming Telangana elections.
Speaking to ANI, Raja Singh said:
“Earlier, Hyderabad was Bhagyanagar and in 1590 Quli Qutub Shah came to Hyderabad, he changed Bhagyanagar to Hyderabad. At that time many Hindus were attacked and many temples destroyed. We are planning to rename Hyderabad. In Telangana, BJP will win in majority and then our first aim will be developing the state and second objective will be renaming Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar. We will also change the names of Secunderabad and Karimnagar.”
The statement had come less than a week after Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh was renamed to Ayodhya by Adityanath, who said that the identity of the district of Faizabad was Lord Ram.
The name 'Bhagyanagar' is derived from the legend of 'Bhagmati', said to be a woman dancer with whom Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, a ruler of Hyderabad in the 16th century, fell in love with.
The story goes that Hyderabad was named 'Bhagyanagar' after the dancer, and when she married the king and converted to Islam, she took the name of Hyder Mahal, after which the city is presently named. However historians have argued that there is no evidence to suggest that such a queen existed in the city.
However, the name 'Bagh Nagar', which translates to a city of gardens, finds a passing mention.
Telangana goes to the polls on December 7 and counting of votes will take place on 11 December.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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