A controversy more than Shiv Sena wanting the Centre to officially rename Aurangabad city in Maharashtra as Sambhaji Nagar has erupted in the final handful of days. Ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Shiv Sena and the Congress party are at loggerheads more than the problem. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, is in agreement with the Congress party more than the problem and has attacked the Uddav Thackrey government asking them to concentrate on matters concerned with improvement as an alternative of emotional difficulties.
The history of Aurangabad
Aurangabad was constructed in the 15th century by Malik Ambar of the Nijamshahi dynasty. When Aurangzeb, the son of Shah Jahan took more than the Mughal Empire, he produced the city his capital and renamed it right after his name. He tortured and later killed Chhatrapati Sambahji Maharaj, son of Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Aurangabad exactly where he lived till his death.
In the late 1980s, the Balasaheb Thackeray-led Shiv Sena began expanding its influence beyond Mumbai. Soon it came to energy at the Aurangabad’s regional body and through the victory rally on May 8, 1998, Thackeray renamed the city as Sambhaji Nagar as this was the location exactly where the Maratha warrior was kept captive and tortured till death, Chandrakant Khaire, former Shiv Sena MP from the city, mentioned.
Since then, Aurangabad is referred to as Sambhaji Nagar in all political rhetoric and in the party’s mouthpiece Saamana. The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation only passed the resolution to officially rename the city in 1995.
The then Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi then issued a notification asking public opinion on renaming the city. Then Congress corporator Mushtaq Ahmed challenged the resolution by the municipal corporation at the higher court. The court, nonetheless, disposed of the matter. Ahmed then took the matter to the apex court that granted a remain on the notification. After the Congress-NCP alliance came to energy in 1999, the notification for renaming was taken back. Now an NCP member, Ahmed mentioned if MVA requires the choice once again, he will challenge the choice at the court once again.
Since then, the renaming of the city has been a bone of contention in between political parties that resurface through civil polls.
Why renaming the city is a major deal
The BJP has repeatedly criticised Sena about maintaining old guarantee with new allies, the NCP and Congress and now difficult its personal Hindutva ideology it has been daring Shiv Sena to impact the alter in its bid to corner the party.
Maharashtra Cabinet in March final year authorized a proposal to rename Aurangabad airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj airport. According to sources, Divisional Commissioner had sent the report on renaming Aurangabad city to the government, but failed to get a nod from the Centre.
Aurangabad is a city with 11.75 lakh population. That consists of a majority 51 per cent Hindus and 30.8 per cent Muslims. Imtiaz Jaleel of AIMIM is the MP of the region who has defeated Sena MP Khaire in 2019. Hence the choice of renaming the city ahead the civil polls is a strategic step by the Shiv Sena.
What is at stake for parties in renaming Aurangabad
The Sena desires to rename the city to assert its Hindutva agenda appeasing the majority Hindu population though the Congress party does not want to upset its Muslim vote bank. If Sena pays heed to Congress opposition to the choice for coalition’s sake, BJP will project it as Sena compromising its saffron values. If Congress fails to convince Sena, AIMIM will project it as a betrayal to its secular credentials.
For BJP, this will be an opportune moment to causing a rift in the Sena-Congress coalition. But understanding that Sena going for a Cabinet resolution for renaming would elicit angry reactions from the Congress, CM Uddhav Thackrey may possibly not take the step at all.
The problem will not only act as a coalition divider for the BJP but will also give it an edge to mobilise cadres ahead of civic polls. The BJP desperately demands a come-back right after the setbacks at legislative elections in Maharashtra final year and in Legislative council and regional body elections.
The BJP, nonetheless, can not use the problem also a great deal in its favour as it may possibly backfire on its ally with Republican Party of India that also has a Muslim and Dalit vote bank in Aurangabad and is also in agreement with Congress opposing any move to rename the city. The BJP may possibly also discover a hard spot if all the disagreement in between Congress and Sena tends to make them the two primary opponents. BJP, nonetheless, feels that the Republican’s party’s opposition will preserve Congress from taking the space totally.
According to AIMIM MP Jaleel, every single 5 years through polls the Sena and BJP take these matters to the public forum to divert interest from other issues like water, roads, sanitation, open spaces, and jobs, and so on. Jaleel in his tweet condemned the problem calling the problem a way of searching for ‘cheap political gains.’
NCP, nonetheless, has attempted to preserve it aloof as a great deal as doable from the war of words so far. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar mentioned that the opposition is utilizing the problem to trigger a rift in between MVA allies and choice on the similar will be taken agreeably.