BJP MLA Raja Singh on Thursday triggered a fresh row after he said that he would work towards renaming the city of Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’ if the BJP was voted to power in the state in the upcoming Telangana elections.
Speaking to ANI, Raja Singh said, "Earlier, Hyderabad was Bhagyanagar and in 1590 Quli Qutub Shah came to Hyderabad, he changed Bhagyanagar to Hyderabad. At that time many Hindus were attacked and many temples destroyed. We are planning to rename Hyderabad. In Telangana, BJP will win in majority and then our first aim will be developing the state and second objective will be renaming Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar. We will also change the names of Secunderabad and Karimnagar."
This comes less than a week after Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh was renamed to Ayodhya by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who said that the identity of the district of Faizabad was Lord Ram.
This is not the first time that the Goshamahal legislator has made such a demand and has stated on numerous occasions in the past, that he would lobby within the BJP to rename the city. In fact, on his own Twitter account, Raja Singh has mentioned 'Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad)' as his location.
The name 'Bhagyanagar' is derived from the legend of 'Bhagmati', said to be a woman dancer with whom Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, a ruler of Hyderabad in the 16th century, fell in love with.
The story goes that Hyderabad was named 'Bhagyanagar' after the dancer, and when she married the king and converted to Islam, she took the name of Hyder Mahal, after which the city is presently named. However, historians often argue staunchly that this was not the case, as 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.