The run-up to the public meeting in Karimnagar was in itself an elephantine political statement of BJP that it has begun the process of changing the names of places it deems are inappropriately named currently, starting with Karimnagar, home turf of BJP TS unit chief Bandi Sanjay and a politically significant district of Telangana.
The saffron party issued front-page advertisements in prominent Telugu and English dailies with ‘Chalo Karinagar’ emblazoned in bold letters, thus drawing attention to its point that the region, known for preponderance of elephants in days of yore, ought to have been named ‘Karinagar’, with ‘Kari’ (elephant) standing out in the name.
The party has previously declared that, should BJP come to power, it would change the name of not only Karimnagar, but also Hyderabad (to Bhagyanagar), Mahabubnagar (Palamuru) and Nizamabad (Indur) so as to rid the places of Nizami influence.
That is, it wants to ‘root’ out ‘Karim’, ‘Mahbub’, ‘Hyder’ and ‘Nizam’ from the respective names.Political and other circles did not fail to notice the strategic manner in which the BJP effected name change. Even at the public meeting on Thursday, egged on by the ‘Chalo Karinagar’ advertisements, many people discussed references in history books pertaining to Telangana that huge hordes of elephants were roaming in the Karimnagar region in good old days.
