Bombay vs Mumbai row heats up over ‘IIT Bombay’ as Raj Thackeray slams Union minister Jitendra Singh’s IIT speech

“And what is this mentality? So the plan to separate Mumbai, which belonged to the Marathi people, from Maharashtra was foiled by the Marathi leaders and the people. And our Marathi remained in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The bitterness that had been building up in their stomachs for decades has started to come out once again,” Thackeray said in a post on X.

Pointing out that Singh has no connection with Mumbai, Maharashtra or Gujarat, Thackeray alleged that his aim was to get praise by knowing what was going on in the minds of top leaders and saying so.

Appealing to Maharashtrians to “open their eyes”, Thackeray further said, “They hate the name ‘Mumbai’ because it is named after Mumbadevi, the original goddess of Mumbai. Her children are the Marathi people who have lived here for generations. They hate you and your city.”

The MNS chief then referred to how the Centre had “tried to take away the city of Chandigarh from Punjab”. “It faced all-party opposition, so it withdrew, but it was a temporary withdrawal. As regards Mumbai, a similar agenda is on their minds,” he added.

“There is definitely an attempt to slowly take over this city by saying, ‘I don’t want Mumbai, I want Bombay’. First, there is an attempt to take over Mumbai and then the entire MMR area and connect it to Gujarat!,” Thackeray said, adding that it was high time Marathi people woke up.

Baseless charges: BJP

Navnath Ban, the state BJP media in-charge, rejected the “baseless charges”. “The renaming of Bombay was done under a BJP-led government at the Centre and the state. In Maharashtra, the undivided Shiv Sena and the BJP were in coalition. It was senior BJP leader Ram Naik who first mooted the idea in Parliament,” he said.

“Those questioning the BJP are doing politics. Mumbai saw maximum development under the BJP regime, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Unfortunately, Raj Thackeray is overlooking facts and making baseless charges,” he added.

From Bombay to Mumbai: the renaming saga

According to legend, the city was once captured by a demon named Mumbaraka. Troubled by him, the Kolis prayed to Lord Brahma for help. Lord Brahma then created an eight-armed goddess named Mumba to kill the demon. Another theory suggests that in the 16th century, the Portuguese called the area ‘Bombai’, meaning ‘good bay’. Later, during British rule, the name evolved into Bombay.

Bombay was officially renamed Mumbai during the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government’s tenure in Maharashtra in March 1995. The renaming, which required approval from the Centre, was carried out while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power.

The coalition government in Maharashtra, led by then chief minister Manohar Joshi and his deputy Gopinath Munde, had then justified the renaming of the city, saying that it was to honour Mumbadevi, the presiding deity worshipped by people in the island city.

At the centre of a statehood dispute

Bombay was also at the heart of a dispute on whether the city should stay with Maharashtra or Gujarat while states were being carved out on a linguistic basis. The tussle led to the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement between 1956 and 1960, which saw political parties set aside ideological differences and fight unitedly to retain Mumbai in Maharashtra. More than 100 people died as part of the agitation.

Shripad Dange, Shreedhar Joshi, Narayan Gore, Uddhavrao Patil, Annabhau Sathe, Prahlad Atre, Keshav Thackeray, Pandurang Bapat, Bhausaheb Raut, Amar Shaikh, G T Madkholkar, Madhuri Dandavate, Y K Saini, and Keshavrao Jedhe were prominent leaders of the movement.

The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement was recently referred to by NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut during an Opposition protest against alleged vote fraud and the bid to push Hindi as a compulsory third language, respectively.