Moves are now fast afoot to shed the linkage of Ghaziabad, at least in name, with the Nawab of Oudh, Ghazi-ud-din. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Municipal Corporation in Ghaziabad may finally pass a motion to rename the city. There have been campaigns for years to reclaim the linkage of Ghaziabad with Hastinapur of Mahabharata fame.
Saffron Citadel
Ghaziabad has old links with BJP. After BJP decided to ride the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Ghaziabad gave a vote of confidence to the saffron outfit. The BJP won all the Lok Sabha elections which were held in the 1990s. The BJP leader Ramesh Chand Tomar firmly established the saffron flag in the city.
One of the largest parliamentary constituencies in the country, Ghaziabad became the place of calling for Rajnath Singh, Union Minister for Defence, and former Army chief Gen (Retd) VK Singh when they contested Lok Sabha polls. Both of them won their elections with record margins.
Mahabharata Linkage
Some local activists, including the priest of a temple in the city, led the demands for establishing its linkage with Hastinapur through renaming. Dudheshwar Nath Temple is a prominent shrine here. The priest of this temple built a popular narrative that Ghaziabad was a forested area, infested with wild elephants, in the Hastinapur kingdom of Mahabharata fame. Subsequently, he and others led the demand to rename Ghaziabad as Gajpura (Gaj is elephant). There has also been demand to rename the city as Harnandinagar after the Hindon River.
Shedding Crime Den Image
The 2013 Hindi film “Zila Ghaziabad” brought widespread attention to the city as the backyard of Uttar Pradesh’s crime world. The film essayed tales of gangsters who allegedly ruled the city. Then came a web series further amplifying the image of Ghaziabad in the negative sense, giving a sense that the city is a hunting ground for the criminals. This has led to yearning among city residents to somehow shed the image of a city of gangsters.
Noida’s Poor Sibling
Ghaziabad and Noida are separated by the National Highway 24, which is now named Delhi-Meerut Expressway. The two cities are immediate neighbours of Delhi. While Noida is closer to the well-off parts of Delhi, Ghaziabad has proximity to the politically sensitive areas of the national capital. The people in Ghaziabad often lament that the city is a poor sibling of Noida. This is largely on account of perceived notions among residents that Noida got more attention from the UP government than Ghaziabad in the past.
Missing The Economic Boom
The economic boom following the new economic reforms in the early 1990s brought scores of new businesses to Gurugram, Haryana, and Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Even Faridabad in Haryana saw rapid industrialisation. But Ghaziabad somehow missed the bus. The new-age businesses skipped the Ghaziabad landscape. The industrial base of Ghaziabad largely consists of the old businesses of metal works, liquor, timber, and others.
Gaining Lucknow Attention
Noida is seen to be attracting businesses even from Gurugram because of its infrastructure and availability of office space. Noida was lavished with attention during the Mayawati administration (2007-12), and now Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is paying keen interest to promote ‘Toy City’, ‘Film City’, Data Centre City’, and others in Noida.
Name Changing Spree
Ghaziabad may join the likes of Allahabad, Mughalsarai, and Faizabad if the moves in the municipal corporation succeed in renaming the city. Moreover, the action is also actively endorsed by the state government. With the BJP at the helm in the state, Allahabad, where the Kumbh Mela is held, was renamed Prayagraj. Mughalsarai, adjoining Varanasi, was also renamed after the leading ideologue of the BJP, Deen Dayal Upadhyay. In the run-up to the inauguration of the Ram Temple, Faizabad was renamed Ayodhya. It may be noted that Ayodhya was a town in the Faizabad district.
There are moves afoot to rename Aligarh also. Aligarh is a big centre of education for the Muslim community. The name-changing spree in UP is in line with the political fervor within the BJP to shed linkages to Muslim rules. Even in Delhi, a few of the roads were renamed to shed such linkages. One such prominent name change was of Aurangzeb Road, which was renamed after former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Eying Economic Gains
The name change alone may not bring an economic windfall to Ghaziabad. But the city may definitely aspire for the spillover effects from Noida in gaining new businesses. Noida’s rapid gains on economic fronts were on account of infrastructure. Wide roads, spacious town planning, and effective administration and action by the Noida Authority against land grabbers and encroachment helped the city take the lead. Ghaziabad may have to do more than renaming to gain on the economic fronts.
Administrative Challenges
The UP government will indeed have to incur additional financial and manpower costs to give effect to the change of the name of Ghaziabad. BJP leaders dismiss the cost factor, claiming that the emotional gains far outweigh the expenditure which may be incurred in the changes of signages and other records. Also, the administration may have to brace for litigation as opponents may challenge the move in courts as has been the case with Prayagraj.
Hindutva Assertion
The renaming of Ghaziabad is seen within BJP as long overdue, for the city has a place of political eminence in the western parts of Uttar Pradesh. BJP may hope to cash in on the consequent polarisation in the western parts of UP where the party may have to face up to the challenge of Dalit-Muslim vote consolidation.
Manish Anand is a senior Delhi-based journalist. Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.
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