The last decision taken by the Uddhav Thackeray government, of renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar, is being viewed as “purely political” by the city’s residents. “What was the Shiv Sena doing since 1988, when Bal Thackeray declared his desire to rename the city as Sambhaji Nagar?” asked Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel. “The Sena has since been in power for two terms.”
Pointing out that in his latest rally, the CM had said Aurangabad would be renamed only after the city sees development, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP wondered what had changed so soon. “Have we started getting water every day? Have we got rail connectivity? Why this haste then to take a decision that will cost crores of public money to implement, and that too for a city that is known internationally.”
Jaleel felt the only reason for this could be to prevent the Sena’s rivals from getting credit for the renaming. “Maharashtra’s parties use the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Chhatrapati Sambhaji, Phule-Ambedkar, only for their selfish motives, not out of love for these personalities.” The AIMIM has asked their followers to maintain peace and may launch an agitation later, said Jaleel.
Interestingly, Ramesh Gaekwad, district president of the Sambhaji Brigade, agreed with Jaleel. “I welcome the renaming, but it’s obvious that it’s being done for politics. All these years, the Sena used this issue to get votes. That’s why they didn’t rename the city though they were in power not only in the State, but also in the Aurangabad municipal corporation and their coalition partner was in power at the Centre. Now they’ve cleverly thrown the ball in the BJP’s court, knowing the BJP can’t reverse it. The BJP will probably implement it when they can get the maximum political mileage.”
Gaekwad revealed that though he was a leader of an organisation named after Sambhaji Raje, they used ‘Aurangabad’ in all their literature. “The name must be changed officially. We are a democracy, not a monarchy to just change names at will. Even Chandrakant Khaire (former four-term Shiv Sena MP from Aurangabad), who uses ‘Sambhaji Nagar’ in all his speeches, had to use Aurangabad in his official letterhead.”
Striking a note of sadness and anger, Abdul Hamid Khan of the Movement for Peace and Justice said, “The Sena leaders were using this name anyway because they felt this made Hindus happy. We do feel angry at this change, but what can we do? It took so long for the farmers to get the three farm laws revoked, it’s impossible for us to protest for so long. Who will join us in this protest? Muslims alone cannot do this.”
Well-known intellectual Vijay Diwan, founder of the Aurangabad-based environment group Nisarg Mitra Mandal, had a completely different take on the renaming, which he described as “unfortunate”. “I respect Sambhaji Raje, but I have to point out that he had little to do with Aurangabad’s history. He was captured by Aurangzeb in Aurangabad, that’s all. Aurangabad’s struggle to be free from the Nizam’s rule, which lasted from 1938-48, was led by Swami Ramanand Teerth; Gandhians like Govindbhai Shroff participated in it, and it was finally freed by Sardar Patel’s military action in 1948. If at all the city had to be renamed, they could have chosen a name associated with this struggle.”