Ahmednagar: The Chief Minister of Maharashtra announced during a program here that the name of Ahmednagar would be changed to ‘Ahilya Nagar’. For a long time, there was a demand to change the name of this city. Now the wait is over. Even in December 2022, Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar told the Legislative Council that I have sought a proposal from the district administration to change the name of this district of Maharashtra to ‘Ahilya Nagar’. Now it seems that soon their demand will be approved.
Since coming to power, Shinde Shiv Sena- and BJP have changed the names of some Sharons such as renaming Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. At the same time, Osmanabad changed to Dharashiv. At the same time, BJP demanded to change the name of Ahmednagar to Ahilyabai Nagar. Earlier, BJP leader Gopichand Padalkar had written a letter to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He told in the letter that Ahilyabai Holkar was born in ‘Chaundi village’ of Ahmednagar. In view of Ahilyabai’s connection with this city, there was a demand to change its name.
On the other hand, if we look at the website of the district, this city with a history of 240 BC has been a part of many empires. Before 1486, Ahmednagar was also known as Nizamshahi. In 1486 Malik Ahmed Nizam Shah was the prime minister of the Bahmani kingdom. He laid the foundation of a city which is now known as Ahmed Nagar. But after this announcement by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, this city will regain its glory and will again be known as ‘Ahilyadevi Nagar’.
