Pune: With Congress opposing Shiv Sena's move to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, a similar buzz to rename Pune has surfaced from past one week.

The renaming of Aurangabad became the talk of town between ruling allies Shiv Sena and Congress. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena has raised a demand to rename Aurangabad after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj for years now. On Monday, Maharashtra BJP Chief Chandrakant Patil said the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar is acceptable. His party would pass a resolution on winning the civic body elections here. However, Congress has put its foot down, claiming the party will not support any such move.

Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2018 named Allahabad as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya. After this, demands a change in the name of Aurangabad and Hyderabad are rising. Apart from the two cities, now some leaders have also asked to change the name of Pune.

Prakash Ambedkar, Chief, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, on Monday said, "Instead of Aurangabad, Pune should be renamed to Sambhajinagar after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj."

Pune city unit of Sambhaji Brigade also made a similar demand. Recently they demanded the state government to rename Pune city to 'Jijapur'. Constructed by Jijabai, the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the Sambhaji Brigade stated that it is only suitable to rename Pune after her.

Though name changing used to be limited to the people alone, it seems as though India is facing a new epoch wherein even cities are getting their names changed. So the real question is: Is the demand for renaming Pune is correct? Why not revamp it instead of demanding a change in its name?

Changing an individual's name after they have lived most of their life does not change their character. The city of Pune has observed prodigious historical events. We are in 2021, and it continues to entice devotion for its influence and representation of history. Undoubtedly, Pune is our social and cultural heritage. However, Pune is not the city of the past and is vital for contemporary society as well, for they continue to produce and change as the country does.

Pune is an IT hub of India, the educational capital of Maharashtra, and it is also known as the 'Oxford of the East'. The city is home to various sectors, including entertainment, educational and financial, among others.

Several students and families, not only from India but across the world, migrate to Pune for education, job prospects and a better standard of living.

Within the state, the memory of the great king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's mother, Jijabai, after whom the city is to be renamed holds massive respect from all corners.

Yet, changing the city's name to Jijapur is unlikely to be of great importance for those staying here, nor will it make Pune any more or less historically significant.

After being titled as the city worst hit by the novel coronavirus, is there a need to rename it? Why not revamp it instead? Rather than capitalising so much thought and sweat into adding professed social correctness into cities, it would be more supportive in making them commercially, politically, and environmentally correct!