‘Aurangabad not renamed because of Sambhaji…’: AIMIM MP calls for protest | Latest News India

Imtiaz Jaleel, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM’s) MP from Maharashtra’s Aurangabad, again slammed the decision of naming the district as Sambhajinagar and said when the decision of naming Aurangabad was taken hurriedly, it was not taken in Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s name. “It was taken thinking my chair is about to be snatched, maybe his name would save us,” Jaleel said on Tuesday, as reported by ANI.

Jaleel pointed out that Aurangabad’s residents, irrespective of whichever religion they belonged to, felt connected to the original name. “No one wants the name to change. We will fight for it in any way possible. Will stage protests, go to court and raise our voice in Parliament,” he further said.

The decisions to name Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv were taken by the previous Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray in the last meeting of the cabinet. The new state government, led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, upheld the decisions.

Last week, Imtiaz Jaleel called the Thackeray cabinet’s decision renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad a great example of cheap politics. Jaleel said the Shiv Sena took this decision as it began losing power in Maharashtra during the political crisis.

Apart from the AIMIM MP, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi objected to the renaming of Aurangabad and Osmanabad, saying that such a step was a challenge to the Constitution.

“You should focus on the Constitution instead of the majority alone. Can anyone guarantee that by changing the name of the city, all of its issues are resolved?” Azmi said on July 3.

Azmi approached the police claiming that he received threat calls for opposing the renaming of the two districts, with the caller threatening to kill the SP leader for objecting to the name change.