Mumbai — Maharashtra Minister Sanjay Shirsat has reignited the debate over historical place names by calling for the removal of city names bearing the suffix “-bad,” which he said are remnants of Mughal rule under Aurangzeb.
“Aurangzeb changed the names of many places. He came here with the intention to rule,” Shirsat stated. “Dharashiv was Usmanabad, Sambhajinagar was Aurangabad, Daulatabad was Devgiri, and Ratnapur was made Khuldabad.”
Shirsat emphasized the government’s intention to erase such historical imprints, saying, “We want to remove the signs of all the words with the suffix ‘Bad’.”
The remarks follow recent efforts by the Maharashtra government to restore what it describes as original or culturally significant names to several cities. The renaming of Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad to Dharashiv has already been officially approved, sparking both support and criticism across political and social circles.
