BJP MP from Telangana's Nizamabad Dharmapuri Arvind, on Monday made a pitch for changing the name of his Lok Sabha constituency and said that it should be renamed 'Induru'.
Speaking at an event in Nizamabad, Arvind said, "We used to have a nice name in Induru. 'Ind' from India and 'Indu' from Hindustan was part of the name. Ever since we kept the Nizam's name, things have gone downhill."
"The Nizamsagar project has dried up, the Nizam Sugar Factory has been shut down and in Nizamabad, farmers are not benefitting. If we want a good future, we must remove the name Nizamabad and replace it with Induru," Arvind claimed.
According to media reports, the district was originally named Indrapura, during the reign of Rashtrakuta ruler Indra III in the 10th Century. However, it was renamed Nizamabad after after Nizam Ul Mulk, the founder of the Asaf Jah dynasty, which eventually controlled Hyderabad state.
This is not the first time that the BJP has tried to rename a place in the state. In December last year, ahead of the Legislative Assembly elections in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that if the BJP was voted to power, it would rename to city of Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar.
The name 'Bhagyanagar' comes from the legend of 'Bhagmati', a woman dancer with whom Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, a ruler of Hyderabad, was said to have fallen in love with, in the 16th century.
While some claim that Hyderabad was named 'Bhagyanagar' after the dancer and renamed when she married the king, converted to Islam, and changed her name to Hyder Mahal, some historians staunchly argue that there is no evidence to suggest that such a queen existed in the city.
However, the name 'Bhag Nagar' which translates to a city of gardens, finds a passing mention in archives.
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