Hyderabad: Adding to the slew of fake news on Whatsapp, Super V Tech Zone, an electronics and communication store in Koti was accused of doctoring their address from “Hyderabad” to “Bhagyanagar” on their invoices.
While contacted by Siasat.com, one of the owners of the store Kiran Kumar said that the bills were doctored to show them in poor light.
He further clarified by sending a copy of his bills-book and a visiting card wherein it can be noted that the name of the city remains Hyderabad.
The issue with Bhagyanagar:
In the recent past, especially since a couple of years, the Hindutva crowd has been trying to popularise (and saffronise) the city by renaming it as “Bhagyanagar”.
While the attempt has been criticised by people across the city, it is worth noting that the desire to change names of various cities has been a part of the right-wing propoganda.
Where does the word Bhagyanagar come from?
According to various legends, Ibrahim had constructed this bridge for Mohd Quli Qutb Shah to go and meet his supposed lover or courtesan, Bhagmati. The story goes that after Ibrahim’s death, his son founded Hyderabad and first named it after Bhagmati calling it Bhagnagar. However, many historians have denied the existence of Bhagmati citing a lack of evidence.
More importantly, it may be noted that in 1578 when the Puranapul was constructed Mohd Quli Qutb Shah was only 12-years-old. According to H.K Sherwani, one of the most well-known historians from Hyderabad, the bridge was most likely built by Ibrahim Qutb Shah with an idea to expand outside the Golconda fort towards the Musi river due to the availability of water.
Though Ibrahim Qutb Shah passed away in 1580, two years after the bridge was constructed, his son built upon the idea and founded Hyderabad eventually. As far as Bhagmati is concerned, her existence is still debatable.
