Madhya Pradesh has in the past seen multiple rounds of renaming of villages, towns and buildings in a bid to rid them of ‘Islamic identity’. But in a first, an institution whose name has nothing to do with a Muslim ruler or ‘invader’ is sought to be rebranded.
The executive council of Barkatullah University in Bhopal has passed a resolution renaming the Madhya Pradesh government-run institution as Vagdevi Bhojpal University. The proposal states that Vagdevi is the goddess associated with knowledge and speech while Raja Bhoj ruled over the area around present-day Bhopal then headquartered in Dhar.
The Bhojshala—recently declared a temple by a Madhya Pradesh High Court order—is also located in Dhar and, according to a section of Hindus, houses a temple dedicated to Vagdevi.
The University in Bhopal, set up in 1970, was renamed Barkatullah University after freedom fighter Barkatullah Bhopali. The proposal now to accord it a new name has been sent to state governor Mangubhai Patel. As the university’s chancellor, he has the powers to approve it.
While renaming institutions, villages and towns is not new in the state, this is the first time an institution that gets its name from a non-ruler Muslim is being renamed.
So, who was Barkatullah Bhopali? A prominent figure of India’s independence movement, Bhopali was born in Bhopal’s Itwara area in 1854. He was associated with the Gadar movement and appointed prime minister of the Indian government in exile set up in Afghanistan in 1915. Raja Mahendra Pratap was the president of the same government in exile. Bhopali was widely travelled and had worked as a journalist—editing the Ghadar Party newspaper and as an academic in England.
The proposal to rename Barkatullah University has been opposed by the Opposition Congress, with its student wing NSUI holding demonstrations across the state. “Entrance exam question papers are compromised and recruitment scandals are common under BJP governments. Instead of upholding merit, the BJP government in MP continues to take decisions to divide Hindus and Muslims,” said Congress spokesperson Abbas Hafi.
The ruling BJP and its affiliate organisations have supported the move on grounds that it would strengthen the association of Raja Bhoj with Bhopal and thus has basis in history and culture.
There are also demands from certain quarters to rename Bhopal as Bhojpal. The city’s Habibganj Railway Station, which took its name from the son of Nasrullah Khan, who was the eldest son of the last ruling begum of Bhopal Sultan Jehan, was rechristened Rani Kamlapati Railway Station in 2021. Rani Kamalapati was the Gond princess who ruled the region in the 18th century. It was Nasrullah’s son Habib who donated the land to build the railway station.
Minto Hall, the old Vidhan Sabha building in Bhopal, was renamed as Kushabhau Thakre Convention Centre. Kushabhau was a leader of the Jan Sangh and later BJP. He was a mentor to Union minister and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The airport in Bhopal is already named after Raja Bhoj. While the Barkatullah University executive council proposal makes a case for renaming the university after Vagdevi and Raja Bhoj, critics point out that there is no connection whatsoever between Raja Bhoj and civil aviation.
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