The Gujarat government, after going gung-ho about renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati, has now put the process on hold. The idea to change Ahmedabad's name was put on the back burner after the government realized that the process is very complex.

"The issue needs to be dealt with utter cautiousness," said a senior government official.

"There are many complexities in changing the name of Ahmedabad city as previously also the same had faced many challenges and it could be again too. The Uttar Pradesh government chan-ged divisions of the state while here it is an issue of changing the name of a city that has many implication on historic facts. That is why changing name of Ahme-dabad is not an easy go. If the government starts process and the same is shot down, it would be embarrassing."

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had recently expressed willingness to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati, and said that his government would move further in the direction after going through legal implications.

It was believed that the government would bring a resolution during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday but the issue was not even discussed. A senior minister said: "I do not know in what circumstances the CM and deputy CM expressed their willingness about renaming Ahmedabad but there is no such movement in the government so far. The issue was not a part of the agenda of the cabinet meeting."

The minister also said that in the past, when the state government had proposed to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati, the Archaeological Survey of India had disapproved it. "I do not have the complete details on what basis the rename process was stalled twice in the past but the ASI disapproved because of historical importance of the city. Also, there was discord between the then NDA government led by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and some allies on the issue," added the minister.

Another senior government official: "It will be better if positive changes come in the infrastructure of the city instead of changing the name. The great hurdle against renaming is the Heritage City tag that Ahmedabad has received from UNESCO."

WHAT’S IN A NAME?