Villages With “Muslim” Names Renamed in Rajasthan

In a series of attempts to saffronise the character of villages in Rajasthan, the Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Thursday has changed the names of three villages after Union Home Ministry approved the state government's proposal for the same. The reason behind this change is that the villages apparently had “Muslim” names that now are being changed to Hindu names.

The Rajasthan government had sent a proposal to the Union Home Ministry to change the names of 27 such villages. The move is seen as a part of the Raje government to woo voters ahead of the crucial assembly elections later this year.

The government has changed the name of a village Miyan ka Bara from Barmer district, to Mahesh Nagar. The new name Mahesh Nagar was chosen citing pre-independence address of the village. "Till India got independence, it was Mahesh Bara, but during settlement, name was changed to Miyan Ka Bara. It has been renamed to Mahesh Nagar now," former sarpanch Hanumant Singh was quoted by the new agency ANI as saying.

As per media reports, the name of the village was changed because it has a majority Hindu population. The residents of Miyan ka Bara (now Mahesh Nagar) had complained that they were not getting matrimonial matches for their children as village's name gave an impression that it was inhabited by Muslims.

The state government has also changed the names of Jalore district's Narpada village to Narpura and Jhunjhunu district's Ismailpur village to Pichanwa Khurd. 

The panchayat of Miyan Ka Bara passed a resolution for changing its name to Mahesh Nagar. The proposal was sent to the Barmer district collector, who forwarded it to the revenue department of Rajasthan. The state government then sent the proposal to the Union home ministry for approval.

“We had sought reports from Intelligence Bureau, Geological Survey of India (GSI), the Department of Post and the Ministry of Earth Sciences. There were no adverse reports from any agency and a NOC was issued. The state government can remove the name Miyan ka Bara. A notification has to be issued by the Public Works Department of Rajasthan, informing the Department of Post and GSI so that people do not face any inconvenience when referring to Miyan ka Bara as Mahesh Nagar,” The Indian Express quoted a senior home ministry official as saying.

On August 5, Mughalsarai Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh was formally renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyay station. 

Amra Ram, President, All India Kisan Sabha, told Newsclick that it is the old trick of the BJP to polarise the voters and when the assembly elections are close, they use the same trick. “But, they won't succeed now,” he said.