People are still having a feeling that Ahmedabad should be renamed as Karnavati, said Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel People are still having a feeling that Ahmedabad should be renamed as Karnavati, said Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel

Taking a cue from Uttar Pradesh, the Gujarat government has now expressed its interest in renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati. The government Tuesday said it’s keen on rechristening Ahmedabad as Karnavati if there are no legal hurdles. The development comes after the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government renamed Allahabad and Faizabad as Prayagaraj and Ayodhya, respectively.

In Gandhinagar, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel congratulated the UP government for changing the name of Faizabad district to Ayodhya district. Responding to a reporter’s query on the demand for changing the name of Ahmedabad to Karnavati, he said: “People’s feelings are there, and were there earlier also, to change the name to Karnavati. We are always ready to do that if we get enough support to overcome legal hurdles. Karnavati has been in use in numerous ways and people are used to it. People of Gujarat and people of Amdavad like the name. So, it can always be considered.”

Slamming the BJP government over the issue, state unit Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the promise to rename Ahmedabad was just another “poll gimmick” by the ruling party.

“For the BJP, issues like construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati are the means to get votes of Hindus,” said Doshi.

“BJP leaders dump such issues after coming to power. They only cheated Hindus all these years,” he added.

Historically, the area around Ahmedabad has been inhabited since the 11th century, when it was known as Ashaval. Chaulukya ruler Karna of Anhilwara (modern Patan) had waged a successful war against the Bhil king of Ashaval and established a city called Karnavati on the banks of the Sabarmati river. Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1411 A.D. had laid the foundation of a new walled city near Karnavati and named it Ahmedabad after the four saints in the area by the name Ahmed.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the eve of Diwali announced that Faizabad district would henceforth be known as Ayodhya.

“Ayodhya is a symbol of our ‘aan, baan aur shaan’ (honour, pride and prestige),” Adityanath said in Ayodhya.

With inputs with PTI

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