Political storm over proposal to rename Shimla

Shimla: The move to change capital Shimla’s name to “Shyamala” has turned into a political battle in Himachal Pradesh and is causing embarrassment to the state BJP government as the suggestion has got a big “no” from  people of the state.

The move has backfired on the BJP as the Opposition Congress has dared the saffron party to change the name. The Congress has threatened to start an agitation if the name is changed and even said that it will again change back the name once voted to power.

The proposal for changing Shimla’s name first came up in 2016 when the Vishva Hindu Parishad raised the demand during the Congress regime. However, the then chief minister Virbadhra Singh outrightly rejected it. More recently, the renaming controversy erupted when Himachal Pradesh health minister Vipin Parmar said that there is “no harm in changing the name of Shimla”, the erstwhile summer capital of British India.

However, to the embarrassment of the state BJP, the demand to change the name has become a political issue as both the Opposition Congress and people of the city dismissed the suggestion. The former chief minister Virbadhra Singh, whose government turned down the proposal, said that the Kali Bari temple itself was built after the colonial era.

“I recall that the Kali Bari temple also came after the British. The only ancient temple that existed in the town was the Jakhu temple, named after Jakh (a devta),” Mr Singh said.

On the demand cropping up during his tenure, Mr Singh said, “Since there was no justification or basis for changing Shimla’s name, the proposal was never ever considered.”

The former chief minister has now threatened to launch a citizens’ movement if the BJP government attempts to “rewrite or distort Shimla’s history to appease the Sangh Parivar”.

State Congress president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has said that Shimla has faced the worst water crisis in its history this year. Let the chief minister assure the residents of Shimla that there would be no such crisis next summer, instead of wasting time in the preposterous idea of renaming Shimla. “In case, the BJP changes the name, we will change it again once voted to power,” he added.

The renaming controversy generated so much heat that a couple of days after reports claimed that the Himachal Pradesh government would be renaming Shimla as “Shyamala”, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur issued a clarification, claiming that no such proposal is being considered.

“Let me make it clear that the government is not considering proposal to rename Shimla as ‘Shyamala’. We had received a suggestion to rename Shimla and it is our duty to hear all suggestions,” he said.

The chief minister had to retract from his earlier statement made during Dusshera celebrations where he had said that his administration would be seeking public opinion on whether the state capital should be renamed.

According to Himanshu Nag, a representative of the hospitality industry, Shimla is not just another place on the map. It has a deep-rooted history and significance that goes back to the 18thcentury. It is now on global tourist map and has visitors throughout the year.

The change in name will make it lose its identity and history, besides making it lose economically due to loss of tourism, he added.