BJP Demands Renaming Aurangabad After Sambhaji

The BJP has renewed the demand for renaming Aurangabad after Maratha warrior, Chhatrapati Shivaji's son, Sambhaji. For several years, the Shiv Sena had been in the forefront of the demand for renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar.

In 2015, Shiv Sena supremo and current Maharashtra Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray had demanded that Aurangabad be renamed after Sambhaji. Thackeray's call at that time, came in the wake of the Centre's decision to rename Aurangazeb Road in Delhi as Abdul Kalam Road.

Over the last five years, the call to rename Aurangabad was not seriously pushed by either the BJP or the Sena when Devendra Fadnavis was in the saddle. The renewal of the demand by the BJP for renaming Aurangabad after Sambhaji, is an attempt to needle the Shiv Sena government by raising the matter after this hiatus. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena has in recent years relegated this demand to the back burner and the BJP did not actively pursue it when Fadnavis was the chief minister, observers point out.

The BJP's demand is bound to cause discomfort to the Shiv Sena which prides itself on the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji. In the Shiv Sena lexicon, Shivaji occupies the foremost position as a symbol of Maratha pride. It is against this backdrop that the Maharashtra unit of the BJP is seeking to embarrass the Sena.

The Congress has hit back at the BJP and has asked the ruling party at the Centre to apologise for its ideologue, Golwalkar's criticism of Sambhaji first.