Watch | Some “Mughal” villages around New Delhi are not Mughal at all

Taking a cue from the Uttar Pradesh government’s penchant to rename townships after Hindutva mascots, the Bharatiya Janata Party wants 40 villages of ‘Mughal’ Delhi to be renamed. There is a catch: some of the ‘Mughal’ villages are not Mughal at all! They pre-date the arrival of the Mughals in 1526 with many villages’ origin going back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

As for Delhi, all cities except Shahjahanabad, founded by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century, were established by non-Mughals. Siri, Tughlaqabad, Jahanpanah, Firozabad and Dinpanah were all founded before Shahjahanabad, and indeed, Lutyens’ Delhi. Sultans like Alauddin Khilji, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and Feroz Shah Tughlaq were responsible for building these cities virtually from scratch. And most of the 40 villages shortlisted for rechristening fall in these erstwhile cities of Delhi.