Bhopal To Bhojpal

"Charaiveti Charaiveti” - Gautam Buddha
(go on, go on, and never stop; become an eternal journey)

The Times of India reported on 18th December 2006 that Jabalpur is being renamed Jabalipuram, and that the MP government is "mulling renaming Bhopal to Bhojpal and Indore to Indur."

Going according to the speed expected of the Government of India a good 4 years hence, the government found an opportunity on 28th February 2011, when the announcement came at an event to mark 1,000 years of the Parmar king who was famous for his sense of justice, scholarship and patronage for education, science, literature and the arts.
Flanking Chauhan was BJP national president Nitin Gadkari and vice-president Venkaiah Naidu. Actor Kabir Bedi anchored the programme while singer Sukhvinder Singh and percussionist Sivamani tuned the decked-out city to the millennium moment.

Bhopal had a good time, with the laser shows, Sukhvinder's singing and Shiva Mani's drums, cleaning up of major squares and roads and of course - traffic jams. The Upper lake - Bada talab - was to be called the Bhojtal from now on.

But not everyone has taken to the name change.In a letter to Union home minister P. Chidambaram, the Opposition Congress said a change of name would affect the composite culture Bhopal has been known for.Congress spokespersons Atul Sharma and Arif Masood both questioned the move. “For over 200 years, Bhopal has been a symbol of Ganga-Jamuni (mixed) culture. This is an attempt to disturb communal harmony,” Masood, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said.

“The town,” he added, “was founded by Afghan chieftain Dost Mohammad Khan in the 18th century. Besides, what’s the use of changing names? People want fresh drinking water, electricity and good roads.” Chief minister Chauhan brushed aside such criticism. “Where is the communal agenda in this? If the name of Bangalore could be changed to Bengaluru, Bombay to Mumbai and Calcutta to Kolkata,” he said, “why can we not change Bhopal to Bhojpal?”

Fellow party man and Bhopal legislator Vishwas Sarang, who first initiated the move to rename the city, said: “The legendary Raja Bhoj, therefore, must get his due with the state capital renamed Bhojpal.” But even if the city does get a new name, it won’t be in a hurry.The process of renaming cities is lengthy and complex. After a state writes to the Centre, the Union home ministry makes an assessment, taking into account historical facts, feelings of elected representatives, non-government organisations, and the implications on communal and social amity.

If the ministry approves of the proposal, it then writes to, among others, the railways, the postal department and the Geological Survey of India for inclusion of the new name on maps and other survey records.

Earlier, Chauhan unveiled a huge statue of Raja Bhoj in one corner of the city’s famous Badatalab lake. The statue was installed on a structure that once formed a part of the outer wall of the old city of Bhopal.

The irony is this fort and the outer wall was built by Dost Mohammad Khan, on which the staue of Raja Bhoj now stands.

"Charaiveti Charaiveti” - Gautam Buddha
(go on, go on, and never stop; become an eternal journey)

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