Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday bragged that Hyderabad could be renamed as "Bhagyanagar" in just 30 minutes if the BJP was voted to power in the November 30 Assembly polls in Telangana.
Several senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had referred to Hyderabad as “Bhagyanagar” before Sarma’s assertion at an election rally in the Charminar area.
The “Bhagyanagar” reference is linked to the Shri Bhagyalakshmi Temple, a small shrine close to the southeastern minaret of the Charminar.
While the Charminar was built by Sultan Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in 1591, the shrine is said to be of very recent origin. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has clarified that the temple came up only after Hyderabad joined the Indian Union in 1948.
BJP leaders have, however, been using the temple as a cornerstone to spread their Hindutva ideology in a state known for its syncretic culture.
According to some accounts, the temple is named after Bhagmati, who was a lover of the sultan. However, the ASI's statement about the shrine's post-1948 origin suggests it has nothing to do with the sultan.
Modi referred to Hyderabad as “Bhagyanagar” in February 2022 when he inaugurated the 216-foot Statue of Equality, raised to the 11th-century Bhakti saint Ramanujacharya, in Shamshabad near Hyderabad.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had raised the issue during the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections three years ago. Union home minister Amit Shah was among BJP leaders who offered prayers at the temple during the local body polls.
In February 2021, the ASI, which has been preserving the Charminar since 1951, had in reply to an RTI applicant, Kareem Ansari, said: “Bhagya Lakshmi Temple came into existence after taking over of Hyderabad by Govt of India adjacent to the South Eastern minaret of the Centrally Protected Monument.”
The shrine now stands on iron-barricaded premises scanned by security cameras, and conducts daily rituals that attract hordes of devotees, even though the huge majority of tourists go there to see the Charminar.
Elderly residents who have lived and earned their livelihood around the Charminar for decades cannot remember how the temple suddenly got catapulted into the BJP’s discourse.
“I was born here, grew up here, and have been living and working in this area for over seven decades and I don’t remember any temple at that spot when I was young,” a septuagenarian who runs a popular eatery known for its Irani tea told The Telegraph.
“Of course, there was a small stone-like structure that I remember. But nothing apart from that, until some years ago when it became a small temple.”
While the septuagenarian does not fear any Ayodhya-like turmoil, he feels that the situation is unfortunate.
His younger associate, who helps him run the eatery, accused the BJP of raking up what he said was otherwise a non-issue in the state.
“What can anyone do about it when they (the BJP) are in power (at the Centre)? We are just helpless people who can only watch when they try to light the fire of communalism for some votes,” said the younger man.
Neither he nor the elderly man wanted to be named.
The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi is crystal clear about retaining old names.
“We are not for changing any names. Who are these BJP leaders to talk about renaming our city? They are just name-changers, while we are game-changers,” BRS spokesperson Manne Krishank told this newspaper.
“Today they’ll talk about changing names, tomorrow they’ll ask us to change our food habits,” Krishank added.