Shimla during snowfall.

SHIMLA: The renaming of Gurgaon and Mewat in Haryana appears to have kicked off similar demands in another northern state, Himachal Pradesh (HP). The state unit of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday urged that Shimla, the erstwhile summer capital of British India, be called Shyamla.

VHP organising secretary Manoj Kumar also asked the HP Governor Acharya Devvrat to take up the issue of changing the names of historical places in the state with the state government and the Centre.

This comes a day after the VHP mooted a proposal for renaming Dalhousie after Netaji Subhash Chander Bose and redesignating Shimla's historical Peterhoff building as Valmiki Sadan.

All the places have a strong British connection and legacy .

Shimla's Peterhoff building has housed several viceroys and governors general of India during the colonial era.It was completely destroyed in a fire in 1981. Shimla's Peterhoff was re-constructed as a luxury hotel after it was gutted Dalhousie was established in 1854 by the British government in India as a summer retreat for its troops and officials. The place was named after Lord Dalhousie, the then British Governor-General in India VHP's demand for renaming Shimla is perhaps linked with one of the theories regarding the origin of the hill town's name. The district administration's official website documents these versions. According to one theory , the name was derived from 'Shyamla' meaning blue house.This was a blue slate house built by a faqir on Jakhu peak of Shimla. Another theory has it that Shimla derived its name from 'Shyamla', meaning a blue female, which is another name for Goddess Kali. The place housed a temple of Goddess Kali.

According to the town's history, it was in 1817 that British surveyors discovered Shimla, then a small hamlet, and thought it to be an ideal retreat due to its salubrious climate.In 1830, the Britishers bought the land around it and turned it into a resort for British army officers. It began to resemble an English village soon, with cottages, tree-lined walks and churches. In 1864, the town was declared the summer capital of the imperial government.

Reacting to VHP's demand, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu wanted to know why this issue was not raised under the previous BJP regime. He said the VHP was making such "empty statements" with an eye on the 2017 assembly elections.

Shimla mayor Sanjay Chauhan said, "Shimla's name has historical significance and it cannot be changed because it suits some organization."

