Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 18 (ANI): The proposal to rename Mohammedwadi village in Pune's Hadapsar area to Mahadevwadi has gained momentum, with Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale formally requesting Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena Chief Eknath Shinde to consider the change.

The demand, which dates back to 1996, has received strong backing from local leaders and residents.

Shiv Sena's Pune city chief, Pramod (Nana) Bhangire, announced the development on social media. In apost on X, he said, 'Mohammedwadi will now become Mahadevwadi!!! Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale has requested Eknath Shinde to rename Mohammedwadi as #Mahadevwadi. Jai Maharashtra. Jai Shri Ram.'

According to Bhangire, the demand for renaming reflects the long-standing sentiment of local residents. The village has a very old Mahadev Mandir in its heart, and locals believe the name Mahadevwadi better reflects their heritage and faith.

Residents claim that the name Mohammedwadi has no relevance to their history or culture, and they are unsure who named it or why. A resolution to rename the village was passed in 1996, but it was never acted upon. Locals reiterated their demand when CM Eknath Shinde visited the area.

'This issue was first raised in 1996 when the village was under the gram panchayat. A resolution to rename it as Mahadevwadi was passed back then, but was never acted upon. Over the years, nothing concrete happened. However, when CM Eknath Shinde visited the area, locals reiterated their demand. Now, with Bharat Gogawale officially writing to the CM and MLC Yogesh Tilekar also raising the matter in the ongoing assembly session, we are confident that the name change will finally happen,' Bhangire said.

He also added, ' The Maharashtra Government, keeping the sentiment of the people in mind, recently changed the name of Aurangabad to Chatrapati SambhajiNagar, Ahmednagar to Ahilyanagar and Osmanabad to Dharashiv. On the same line, we wish the Maharashtra Government would consider our request to change the name of this village soon '.

Villagers have expressed strong support for the proposed renaming, citing that the current name is incongruous with the village's demographics and cultural identity.

One resident said, 'We have been demanding this name change since at least 1996. It feels odd that our village is named Mohammedwadi, even though there are no Muslim families residing here. In fact, we have a very old Mahadev Mandir in the heart of the village. The name Mahadevwadi better reflects our heritage and faith.'

Another villager added, 'We don't even know where the name Mohammedwadi came from or who named it. It has no relevance to our history or culture. We want our village to be known as Mahadevwadi from now on.'

The Maharashtra Government has recently changed the names of several cities, such as Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ahmednagar to Ahilyanagar, and Osmanabad to Dharashiv, keeping in mind the sentiment of the people.

Locals and Shiv Sena leaders are confident that the government will consider their request and change the name of the village to Mahadevwadi soon. (ANI)