Gulbarga: The government’s decision to rename Gulbarga as Kalaburgi has sparked off a row here with some corporators strongly opposing it and members of various Muslim organisations taking to the streets to protest against it.
Several Muslim organisations, which have come together under the Muslim Welfare Association, have also launched a signature campaign against the change of name.
While the state has received the Centre’s clearance to rename 12 cities and towns, including Bangalore and Belgaum, eight years after it first suggested it, there is nothing controversial in the rechristening of the other cities unlike Gulbarga, which received its name under Bahamani rule in the 14th century.
There was no change in the name of the town even after the Nizam state of Hyderabad became a part of the British empire.
With gul meaning flower and barga meaning garden in Persian, Gulbarga when translated means “garden of flowers,” deriving its name from its fort, which was built to resemble a rose garden.
But in the 12th century, the town was known as ‘Kalamburgi,’ or “ a place of stones,” going by an inscription found in Hunasihadagali and Kesaratagi in the district. Years later it began to be referred to as Kalaburgi.
Contending that reverting to the old name Kalaburgi was “demeaning,” the Gulbarga Muslim Welfare Association has warned that unless the state government gives up the idea of renaming the city, it will go to court to “get justice.”
