Bengaluru: Karnataka’s capital Bangalore yesterday shed its colonial name to become Bengaluru along with 11 other cities across the state, renamed in the native Kannada language.
The renaming of India’s tech hub and other cities coincided with Karnataka’s 59th formation day. An official said here: “The state government late on Friday notified that Bangalore and 11 other cities across the state will be pronounced and spelt in Kannada from November 1, following approval by the central government to rename them in the local language.”
As the fifth largest city in the country, Bangalore drew global attention over the last decade, riding on the success of its resilient IT industry, talent pool, salubrious climate and cosmopolitan culture of its nine million denizens.
Other well-known cities like Mysore will be pronounced and spelt Mysuru, Mangalore as Mangaluru, Belgaum as Belagavi, Bellary as Ballari, Hubli as Hubballi and Gulbarga in the state’s northern region as Kalaburgi.
The remaining five — Bijapur became Vijayapura, Chikmagalur is Chikkamagaluru, Hospet is Hosapeta, Shimoga in Malnad region as Shivamogga and Tumkur as Tumakuru.
Heralding the Karnataka Rajyotsava Day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said it was a proud moment for the 60-million people of the state to pronounce names of a dozen cities in Kannada and use them officially hereafter.
He said: “We propose to rename other cities and towns in the state in due course after assessing the impact of changes to the 12 cities with a population of 0.5-1 million.”
Though old timers and majority of citizens, including locals speak and write Bengaluru in Kannada, they use Bangalore when conversing or writing in English.
N Mahadevappa, a college teacher, said: “Bangalore has been Bangalored! Renaming has robbed the city’s charming Anglican name and fame. It’s official. We have no choice but follow and get used to it.”
He said: “Renaming states and cities is not new. We are behind other states like Maharashtra which made the historical Bombay into Mumbai, while Madras became Chennai, Calcutta Kolkata, Poona Pune, Baroda Vadodara and Orissa Odisha.”
The state government will Monday direct corporations, departments and institutions to change their nameplates and stationery accordingly.
Chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said: “Private firms or organisations will not be compelled to change their registered names if there is reference to any of the 12 cities.”
The renaming exercise began in 2006 when the state’s first coalition government between Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and BJP proposed to mark the state’s golden jubilee (50 years) in response to the demand by social, cultural and political organisations. IANS
