MP: From Mohammadpur to Mohanpur, what's in a name (change)?

In Madhya Pradesh the population comprises 16 per cent Dalits and there are thousands of places, schools and panchayats which are named to indicate their Dalit identity, Chamaria, Chamrauha and Gadaria being some of the most common, says former chairman of MP Scheduled Castes’ Commission Pradeep Ahirwar. The names are offensive and humiliating for the entire Dalit community, he fumes and adds that all past attempts to change their names had failed.

“In 2022, when I was chairman of the SC commission, I wrote to the state government and the Election Commission about changing the names of several villages, which highlight their predominant Dalit identity,” he informs. While calling someone chamar is deemed a slur and may invite punishment, government has been insensitive and indifferent to names like Chamariya, Chamrauha and Gadariya, which are on official records and humiliate the community, he fumes.

Ahirwar was reacting to the sudden flurry of renaming panchayats in 2025. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, on two successive Sundays in January, has renamed several villages, in the process announcing that one of them, Mohammadpur, would henceforth be known as Mohanpur.

The new name was apparently proposed by the local BJP MLA, who submitted a list of ‘Muslim-sounding’ names to the chief minister and urged him to change the names. At a public gathering, the chief minister read out the old and the new names amidst enthusiastic applause by BJP leaders. 

The name of Mohammadpur figured at the top of the list, and BJP workers in their enthusiasm pointed out that it was being renamed after the chief minister’s own name.

Ahirwar and the opposition are not amused. “This is nothing but furthering the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and imposing Hindu names in Muslim-dominated areas,” they pointed out, pointing out that the chief minister had publicly stated that the Muslim-sounding names stuck out like sore thumbs. “Why don’t Dalit-sounding names stick out?” wondered several opposition leaders including Ahirwar.

Some are questioning the legal validity of the exercise. How democratic is it for the chief minister to announce the new names without any consultation or due process? There is no evidence to suggest that the panchayat or gram sabha deliberated on the change, adopted a new name and proposed it. There is no reason cited either for changing the names. Can MLAs propose such changes and the chief minister announce them?

A video clip going viral on social media shows a bemused CM Yadav reading out the old and new names proposed. He can be heard exclaiming that the change did not affect him in any way, so why not? Hamara kya jaata hai, he repeatedly exclaims.

He renamed three panchayats of Badnagar in Ujjain — Gajnikhedi to Chamunda Mata Nagar, Jahangirpur to Jagdishpur, and Molana to Vikram Nagar, justifying the changes because “naam atakta hai (we stumble across the names)". The very next Sunday, 12 January, he renamed 11 villages in Shajapur district. "Nipaniya Hissamuddin will be called Nipaniya Dev, Dhabla Hussainpur as Dhabla Ram, Mohammadpur Pawadia as Rampur Pawadia, Khajuri Allahabad as Khajuri Ram, Hajipur as Hirapur, Richhri Moradabad as Richhri, Khalilpur (gram panchayat Silonda) as Rampur, Ghatti Mukhtiarpur as Ghatti and Sheikhpur Bongi as Avadhpuri; and of course, Mohammadpur Machhnai as Mohanpur.

Changing names of villages and panchayats may appear to be a simple and innocuous exercise that does not require much expenditure. However, reflecting the names in the government’s own records can turn out to be a massive exercise. The changed names must be accurately reflected in both new and old revenue records, police records, and records in various other departments like education and agriculture, besides maps.

But then acting in haste — without thinking through the consequences — appears to be what the BJP government in the state does best.