On my way home from Aligarh Muslim University, I was scrolling through the newspaper when I stumbled upon a piece of news that left me speechless – Aligarh was undergoing a transformation into Harigarh. As a student of Aligarh Muslim University, this development struck a chord with me.
A few days earlier, Mayor Prashant Singal of Aligarh had proposed the change of the city’s name to Harigarh, a proposal that was officially passed on November 8th with unanimous support from all counselors. This event may not seem momentous at first glance, but it stems from a proposal made two years ago, in 2021, by a Hindutva organization, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). VHP claimed that the name Harigarh had roots in Hindu mythology.
Under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh, several district names had already been changed, such as Allahabad to Prayagraj, Faridabad to Ayodhya, and Mughalsarai Junction to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction. Even Agra Airport underwent a renaming, becoming Deen Dayal Airport. Deen Dayal was an RSS-affiliated Indian politician with a Hindutva ideology.
Post-independence India has witnessed numerous changes in city names, often adopting a phonetic approach. Calcutta became Kolkata, Bangalore transformed into Bengaluru, and Trivandrum was rechristened Thiruvananthapuram. In the 1990s, further name changes occurred, with Bombay becoming Mumbai and Madras evolving into Chennai. These alterations reflect a transition from the English usage imposed by colonizers to the restoration of pre-colonial names.
This story was originally published in thecompanion.in. Read the full story here .