After KPCC chief and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar proposed to rename Ramanagara as Bengaluru South, his Cabinet colleague and Industries Minister M.B. Patil on Friday mooted an idea to rename Vijayapura after 12th-century social reformer Basaveshwara.
Mr. Patil went a step further and said there was nothing wrong in calling Karnataka ‘Basava Naadu’, at a time when the State is celebrating the golden jubilee of renaming the Mysore State as Karnataka.
To be discussed with CM
Mr. Patil, who belongs to the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community and represents the Bableshwar constituency in Vijayapura district, said he would discuss renaming Vijayapura after Basaveshwara with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. “There are some technicalities. We will discuss the merits and demerits of changing the name again with the Chief Minister and then decide,” he said on Friday, speaking to reporters at his residence in Bengaluru.
Vijayapura was known as Bijapur up until 2014 when the Union government approved changing the names of 12 cities in the State, including its capital from Bangalore to Bengaluru. “Many people have demanded that it be renamed as Basaveshwara district, the district that gave birth to Basavanna,” Mr. Patil said.
‘Embrace Basava samskruti’
When asked about the demands to rename Karnataka as ‘Bavanna Nadu’, the Minister said, “There is nothing wrong with it... It was Basavanna who gave Anubhava Mantapa, the first parliament of the world. We keep saying that our land should become Basava Nadu that we must embrace Basava samskruti.”
