New Delhi | BJP wants 40 ‘Mughal’ villages renamed. But some of them are not Mughal at all

These places pre-date the arrival of the Mughals in 1526 with many established during the 13th and 14th centuries

The last few weeks have been all about dressing the past anew. The Bharatiya Janata Party, out of office in the capital since December 1998, has taken to time-tested ways of catching the public eye.

Taking a cue from the Uttar Pradesh government’s penchant to rename townships after Hindutva mascots, the party wants 40 villages of ‘Mughal’ Delhi to be renamed. There is a catch: some of the ‘Mughal’ villages are not Mughal at all! They pre-date the arrival of the Mughals in 1526 with many villages’ origin going back to the 13 th and 14 th centuries.

As for Delhi, all cities except Shahjahanabad, founded by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 17 th century, were established by non-Mughals. Siri, Tughlaqabad, Jahanpanah, Firozabad and Dinpanah were all founded before Shahjahanabad, and indeed, Lutyens’ Delhi. Sultans like Alauddin Khilji, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and Feroz Shah Tughlaq were responsible for building these cities virtually from scratch. And most of the 40 villages shortlisted for rechristening fall in these erstwhile cities of Delhi.

Asking Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to issue orders for renaming the villages, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said, “Delhi is no longer  Mughalon ki sarai (resting place) but the capital of the country. The youth of these villages no longer want to carry on with symbols of slavery. They want their villages to be known after the great sons of the country and eminent personalities...”

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Among the “symbols of slavery” Gupta wants renamed are such upmarket places as Saidul Ajaib, Yusuf Sarai, Hauz Khas, Sheikh Sarai, Mohammadpur and Masjid Moth, besides Hasanpur, Nangloi, Neb Sarai, Rasulpur, Nasirpur and so on. Gupta also proposed the names of 27 police officers besides eminent singers, sportspersons, defence personnel and freedom fighters for these urban villages, giving the names of constable Ratan Lal, IB officer Ankit Sharma, inspector Mohan Chand Sharma besides former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Captain Vikram Batra, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Lata Mangeshkar and Milkha Singh, etc.