'Hyderabad is our identity': Asaduddin Owaisi fires back at  Yogi Adityanath over proposed renaming of city to 'Bhagyanagar'

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for promising to rename Hyderabad to 'Bhagyanagar' if the party came to power in Telangana. On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was campaigning for the party in Telangana, said the BJP, if elected to power, would change the name of Hyderabad to 'Bhagyanagar'.  

Responding to his remarks, Owaisi said: "First, ask them where did this 'Bhagyanagar' come from? Where it has been written. You hate Hyderabad that is why renaming is a symbol of that hatred. Hyderabad is our identity, how will you rename it? They are just doing politics of hatred."

Owaisi further said that the promise of renaming Hyderabad was a mark of the "divisive politics of BJP". "I hope the people of Hyderabad and Telangana will give them a befitting reply."

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Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said Hyderabad should be made 'Bhagyanagar'. "Congress made this city Hyderabad but we have come here to make it Bhagyanagar and change the city's bhagya (luck). Shri Bhagya Laxmi Temple is here and this city will become Bhagyanagar again," he said.

Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy backed Adityanath and said that Hyderabad would be renamed as 'Bhagyanagar' if his party came to power in the state. Reddy said the names of cities like Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta have been changed.

"Yes. Definitely, if the BJP government comes to power, (we) will change the name of Hyderabad. I am asking who is Hyder? Do we need the name of Hyder? Where has Hyder come from? I am asking who needs Hyder. If BJP comes to power, definitely, (we) will remove Hyder and change the name to Bhagyanagar," he said.

The state BJP chief suggested there was nothing wrong in changing the name of Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar as Madras has been renamed as Chennai, Bombay as Mumbai, Calcutta as Kolkata, and Rajpath as Kartavya Path. "We will completely change all those names that are a mark of slavish mentality if we come to power," he said.

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Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a speech referred to Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar. He said that the campaign to unite India was initiated by Sardar Patel in Bhagyanagar.

Telangana, which is being ruled by KCR-led BRS, will go to polls on November 30 and the results will be declared on December 3. The BJP has been trying to expand its footprints in this southern state. However, the main contest in the assembly election appears to be between BRS and Congress.

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