Will Hyderabad get a new name? Political circles were abuzz with this speculation on Sunday after Prime Minister Narendra referred to the Telangana capital as Bhagyanagar – a name with roots in the city’s Hindu cultural heritage – during his speech at the BJP National Executive Meet in Hyderabad.
The prime minister said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel laid the foundation of ‘Ek Bharat’ (United India) by integrating the region into the Union and it is the BJP’s historical obligation to build ‘Shreshtha Bharat’.
“PM Modi said that Hyderabad is Bhagyanagar which is significant for all of us. Sardar Patel laid the foundation of a unified India in Hyderabad and now it’s BJP’s responsibility to carry it further,” said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Yadav quoting PM Modi as saying at the national executing meeting.
“Everything that is good in the country belongs to every Indian, he said, asserting that the BJP believes in this philosophy and that is why it celebrates leaders like Patel,” Modi said.
Hyderabad’s renaming has long been BJP’s demand, with leaders time and again pitching for it.
Reacting to the name change buzz, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who also attended the BJP Executive Meeting, reportedly said that any decision in this regard would be taken by the chief minister in consultation with his cabinet minister when the BJP came to power in the state – which is currently ruled by K. Chandrashekar Rao of the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti.
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Just two days ago, BJP leader and former Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das said Hyderbad would be rechristened as Bhagyanagar if the party came to power in the state.
The BJP’s decision to choose Hyderabad as the venue for its executive meeting this year is also believed to be strategically done in an attempt to consolidate the party’s base in states where it wants to secure power.
It also possibly indicates that Telangana is on BJP’s top priority with the state going for elections next year. Telangana’s importance for the BJP was also reflected in PM Modi’s speech where he said that the state’s all-round development is among BJP’s top priorities.
“The people of Telangana are known all over the world for their hard work and dedication towards the development of the country. The development of Telangana, all-round development, is one of the first priorities of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Following the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas, we are making continuous efforts for the development of Telangana,” Modi said while addressing a public rally after the BJP’s National Executive Meeting.
The two-day executive meeting saw the BJP taking stock of its organisational activities and lauding the Modi government over its economic policies and overall governance. Issues such as the killing of a tailor in Udaipur by Islamic fanatics and the Nupur Sharma controversy were not discussed in the meeting, though the obituary reference did mention tailor Kanhaiya Lal, party leaders said.
(With PTI inputs)
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