The Vasundhara Raje led Rajasthan government has renamed ‘Islamic’ names of three villages after receiving nod from the Centre. As per reports in News18, the decision was taken after local residents in these villages complained of the ‘Muslim-sounding’ names of their villages. The village of ‘Miyan Ka Bara’ in the border district of Barmer is one such example. The village, with a population of around 2,000 people, is a Hindu-majority village. Only four families in the village are Muslim. Locals had reportedly asked the district administration to change the name of the village since they were “embarrassed” by it.
Meanwhile, the state govt gave clarification for changing the names of the villages stating the names changed of villages have a majority Hindu population and hence they should have Hindu names. A local leader states that renaming the villages will make marriage proposals easier for the boys and girls in the village as the earlier names gave others “an impression” that the villages were Muslim dominated. The new name Mahesh Nagar was chosen citing pre-Independence address for the village. The renaming of the village happened on August 7 after a gazette notification by the Rajasthan government.
A former Sarpanch of the village Hanumant Singh was quoted by new agency ANI as saying, “Till India got Indenpendence, it was Mahesh Bara but during settlement, name was changed to Miyan Ka Bara. It has been renamed to Mahesh Nagar now.”