After Mughalsarai in UP, 3 villages in BJP ruled Rajasthan renamed

BJP led Rajasthan government on Thursday formally announced the change of names of three villages in the state, after the Union Home Ministry gave clearance to the proposal. Now, Miyon ka Bara village in Barmer district will be Mahesh Nagar, Narpada in Jalore district will be known as Narpura and Ismailpur, which falls under Jhunjhunu district, has been renamed as Pichanwa Khurd. Renaming of the three seemingly muslim-sounding names comes days after the Mughalsarai railway junction in Uttar Pradesh was renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction .

Earlier this year, the Home Ministry had received the proposal from the Vasundhara Raje-led government and after getting an approval from the concerned agencies the state government gave a nod to rename the villages.

This decision of renaming of villages has come just months before the assembly elections. Though the Rajasthan government has not given any particular reason for this move, the officials have come up with different versions for the decision. The opposition in the state has criticised the BJP government for trying to polarise voters by renaming the villages. They have accused the government of creating a divide between the two communities.

According to sources, the villagers had complained of the ‘Muslim-sounding’ names of their villages, therefore the government was prompted to take this decision. For example, Miyon ka Bara, is a Hindu-majority village and only four families belong to the Muslim community. An official reportedly said that the locals had complained that young people in the village were not receiving marriage proposals from other neighbouring villages due to the ‘Muslim-sounding’ name of the village.

However, BJP MLA from Siwana, Hameersingh Bhayal, claimed that the demand to rename Miyon ka Bara was 10 years old and it was renamed Mahesh Nagar due to the presence of a Shiva deity in the village.

According to the news agency ANI, Former sarpanch Hanumant Singh had another story to tell. “Till Independence, it was Mahesh Bara. But during settlement, the name was changed to Miyon Ka Bara. It has been renamed to Mahesh Nagar now,” he said.

In March this year, the Home Ministry had informed the Parliament that it had received 27 proposals from different states requesting a change of names for various villages, towns and railway stations.