By Statesman News Service
y a single announcement within a matter of minutes, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav changed the names and identities of as many as 11 villages bearing names associated with the Muslim community for the past many years, to those representing Hindu names in the Shajapur district of the state.
Addressing a huge public gathering at Kalapipal in Shajapur on Sunday, Dr Yadav commented, “When there is no (person named) Mohammad in (village) ‘Mohammadpur Machhnai’, then why retain this name of the village? It will be known as ‘Mohanpur’ from now on.”
“Why continue the name ‘Bhavna Hussainpur’ for a village that has no Hussain or Muslim in it? From today, it will be called ‘Bhavna Ram’ village,” the CM announced further.
CM Dr Yadav reasoned that the names of villages have been changed in keeping with the sentiments of the villagers and the demands of the local public representatives.
“When people raised concerns that certain names were displeasing, I felt it was my responsibility to change them,” the CM stated.
The other nine villages that the CM renamed, include ‘Ghatti Mukhtiyarpur’ to ‘Ghatti’, ‘Hajipur’ to ‘Heerapur’, ‘Shekhpur Gondi’ to ‘Awadhpuri’, ‘Khalilpur’ to ‘Rampur’, ‘Nipaniya Hisamuddin’ to ‘Nipaniya Dev’, ‘Dhabla Hussainpur’ to ‘Dhabla Ram’, ‘Mohammadpur Pawadiya’ to ‘Rampur Pawadiya’, ‘Khajuri Allahbad’ to ‘Khajuri Ram’ and ‘Richdi Muradabad’ to ‘Richdi’ village.
This story was originally published in thestatesman.com. Read the full story here.