On the 298th birth anniversary of Ahilyadevi Holkar on Wednesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced that the name of Ahmednagar district will be changed to Ahilyanagar. Chondi village in Ahmednagar district is the birthplace of Holkar.
“In the coming days, Ahmednagar district will be officially renamed as ‘Ahilyanagar’ to mark Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar’s contribution to Maharashtra,” said CM Eknath Shinde.
While speaking to the media, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said, “We are people who chant the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We have created Sambhajinagar under your (Shinde’s) leadership, we have created Dharashiv. I believe the chief minister is ‘mawala’ (soldier) of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and thus Nagar (Ahmednagar) will be renamed Ahilyanagar.”
According to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopichand Padalkar it was long pending demand of locals. After the Shinde-Fadnavis government officially changed the name of Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Osamanabad to Dharashiv, Padalkar in February again demanded that Ahmednagar be called Ahilyanagar.
“We are fortunate that Ahilyadevi was born in Chondi village of Maharashtra in Ahmednagar district. She had saved many Hindu temples from Muslim invaders. She rebuilt more than thousand temples that Muslim invaders tried to destroy, including the famous Kashi Vishwanath,” said Padalkar while speaking to News18.
Padalkar feels the contribution of the entire Holkar family should be part of school syllabus, so the young generation can get inspired by their splendid work.
Reacting to this development, State Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “We are happy that they are showing respect to Ahilyadevi. But Ahilyadevi worked for farmers. When will this government take that lesson from her? When this government implement Dhangar reservation which was promised to the community in 2014? When this government induct a woman cabinet minister?”
To mark the occasion, the state has also changed the name of State Government Medical College of Baramati to Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Government Medical College, Baramati. Medical Education Minister made this announcement after the state government issued the government resolution (GR).
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