The Uddhav Thackeray Cabinet on Wednesday (June 29) evening approved the renaming of Aurangabad city as Shambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad city, which is named after the previous ruler of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, as Dharashiv. This could end up being the Uddhav Thackeray Cabinet’s last significant decision.
In preparation for the expected fall of the 31-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration following the floor test slated for June 29, the Shiv Sena has changed its name in an effort to bolster its Hindutva credentials.
Under pressure from its secular partners NCP and Congress, the Sena broke its vow to rename Aurangabad in particular, and the opposition BJP has constantly made fun of them for it.
Over the last week, the Sena rebels under the leadership of Eknath Shinde have publicly questioned the Shiv Sena’s devotion to Hindutva and claimed that Balasaheb Thackeray’s party is steadily reneging on its key principles at the request of the NCP and Congress.
The Shiv Sena originally set its sights on Aurangabad in the late 1980s, making it one of the first significant cities outside the Mumbai-Thane region. Due to the city’s 30% Muslim population, polarisation flourished there. In 1988, the Sena won elections to the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation following communal disturbances that resulted in the deaths of around 25 persons.
Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray stated on May 8, 1988, that the city will now be known as Sambhaji Nagar in honour of Sambhaji Maharaj. The Sena-led state government in 1995 issued a notification asking for comments on this after the Aurangabad Corporation adopted a resolution to that effect.
The notification was contested in the High Court by Mushtaq Ahmed, a former AMC corporator and member of the Congress. Although the court rejected the request on the grounds that no judgement had been made, the name controversy continued to recur on occasion.
During the previous two years that the Shiv Sena has been in power, the BJP and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have both criticised the party for failing to fulfil Balasaheb’s pledge. Congress and the NCP, the Sena’s MVA partners, have expressed opposition to the name.
The MVA government approved a plan to rename Aurangabad Airport as Chhattrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport in March 2020 as a consoling gesture. The Center has not yet given this approval, though.
The Sena has been referring to Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar in its political speeches and in the party journal Saamna, although the city’s name was never really changed.
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