Bhopal civic body to delink city form 'Begum rule'

Bhopal: The BJP-ruled Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to create a new identity of the “City of Begums” by identifying the ancient town with its past “Hindu ruler Raja Bhoj”

The corporation on Wednesday passed a resolution to change BMC’s logo showing a fish couple describing it symbol of Nawab rule, and adopt image of Raja Bhoj as its new logo.

“The corporation decided to discard its old logo and replace it with logo having image of  Raja Bhoj. The old logo, an adaption of emblem of Nizam of Hyderabad by the erstwhile Nawab ruler of Bhopal, symbolized slavery and hence, it needed to be done away with”, BMC mayor Alok Shukla told this newspaper on Thursday.

The BMC would officially adopt its new logo in a couple of days, he added.

Incidentally, the resolution to shed the old logo was opposed tooth and nail by the Opposition Congress who described it a move by the BJP to delink the city with its past history. According to corporation sources, a team of officials of BMC visited Hyderabad recently to study the history of Nizam of Hyderabad and found that the corporation’s logo had a resemblance with the emblem of Nizam rule. The modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohmmad Khan (1672-1728), a Pasthun soldier in the Mughal army. Later, Bhopal became a princely state after signing a treaty with the British East India Company in 1818. Between 1819 and 1926, the state was ruled by four women Begums.

The last Begum ruler abdicated in favour of her son Hamidullha Khan who ruled the state till 1947 and was the last of sovereign Nawabs.

The last Nawab had refused to merge Bhopal with India after independence. Later, India merged Bhopal on April 30, 1949.