Tag: delhi villages rename

Watch | ‘BJP Demand to Change Mughal-Era Delhi Names Is Ignorant’: Swapna Liddle

The historian said Adesh Gupta is simply wrong when he claims these 40 village names commemorate Mughal emperors or Sultanate rulers.

In an interview to discuss the suggestion made by the Delhi President of BJP, Adesh Gupta, in a letter sent to Chief Minister Kejriwal, that the names of 40 Mughal-era villages be changed because they are symbols of slavery, the renowned historian and author Swapna Liddle has said the demand is “silly” and “ignorant of history”.

She also agreed with a comment by another professor of history, Narayani Gupta, that “we are descending into collective cretinism”.

In a 20-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr Liddle, who has written several popular books on the history of Delhi, including a highly regarded one on Chandni Chowk, and is the former convenor of the Delhi chapter of INTACH, explained at length the origin of names such as Najafgarh and sarais such as Neb Sarai, Jia Sarai and Lado Sarai. She pointed out that these are not named after Mughal or sultanate rulers but beneficiaries of land grants or generals and aristocrats of the time.

“What problem does Mr Gupta have with serais?”she asked. “Is it the fact it’s an Urdu word? But his letter to the Chief Minister uses Urdu words like azadi and ghulami,” she pointed out.

Liddle said Adesh Gupta is simply wrong when he claims these 40 village names commemorate Mughal emperors or Sultanate rulers. Also there’s absolutely no way you can logically or historically claim these names are symbols of slavery, she adds.

Watch the full interview here.

‘Mughal-Era’ Names ‘Symbolise Slavery’: BJP Demands Name Changes for 40 Delhi Villages

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta’s letter came a day after the party’s Munirka councillor placed boards at Muhammadpur ‘declaring’ that its name had been changed to ‘Madhavpuram’.

New Delhi: Delhi president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Adhesh Gupta on Thursday, April 28, wrote a letter to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal requesting him to rename 40 villages in the national capital which he claimed had “Mughal-era” names.

In a letter posted to Twitter, Gupta wrote that there are many villages in Delhi which are still known by names which “symbolise slavery” and which remind one of the “sadness and pain of slavery”.

Gupta claimed that the Delhi BJP has identified 40 such villages and implored Kejriwal to rename them after “freedom fighters and great personalities”.

Among the Delhi villages that Gupta wants renamed are Hauz Khas, Saidullajab, Sheikh Sarai, Lado Sarai, Najafgarh and more. 

“Delhi is no longer a sarai (resting place). It is the national capital of the country,” the Indian Express quoted Gupta as saying.

According to the newspaper, Gupta suggested names of personalities after whom these villages could be renamed, including constable Ratan Lal and government staffer Ankit Sharma, who were killed during the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots, Captain Vikram Batra, who was killed during the Kargil War, Valmiki, late singers Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi, and athlete Milkha Singh.

Gupta, in his letter, further claimed that the members of the public residing in these villages wanted the names changed.

Also read: Delhi: BJP Claims Muhammadpur Is Now ‘Madhavpuram’; Officially Invalid Say Authorities

Gupta’s letter came only a day after the BJP’s Munirka councillor Bhagat Singh Tokas placed boards at Delhi’s Muhammadpur ‘declaring’ that its name had been changed to ‘Madhavpuram’. Gupta, too, was present at this event.

The ultimate power to change the name of a village in Delhi lies with the Delhi government. In a video uploaded to Twitter, Gupta notes that the resolution to rename Muhammadpur had been passed by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and had been passed on to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Gupta claims that the AAP government did not respond to the resolution for six months and thus the BJP workers, allegedly in the company of locals, put up the board reading ‘Madhavpuram’.

“We have done it at our end, now the Delhi government should tell whether it wants to change the name or not,” the Express quoted Gupta as saying.