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And now, it's Ahmedabad's turn to get a brand new name!

It doesn't stop with Trivandrum, Calicut, Madras or Bombay, this renaming business. Now it is Ahmedabad's turn to get a brand new name.

The new name, if all goes well, will be Karnavati. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has already passed the proposal for rechristening and sent it for the Gujarat government's approval.

"We are seeking a change because Karnavati is its original name," says former mayor Mukulbhai Shah, a member of the AMC standing committee, "Historical facts justify our stand. Besides getting back the original name will give the people of Ahmedabad a sense of pride in their city."

The renaming attempt, however, has not found much support from all Ahmedabad-ites. Former standing committee chairman Praful Barot, for one, holds that this move was part of the cultural revival that the Bharatiya Janata Party and its associates are attempting. Ahmedabad's Gujarat Vidyapith visiting professor and political scientist D N Pathak is more forthright.

"It is a political move, it's nothing to do with a cultural group asserting itself," he asserts, "Besides, how long back can you go in history? Instead of tackling real socio-economic issues, some people take cosmetic changes more seriously!"

Meanwhile, even as the BJP and its buddies go about the business of getting the state government to agree to Karnavati, another group has sprung up which argues that if the city has to be renamed it should be renamed Asha Bhil, after its most ancient ruler. Shah's group does not agree.

"They will not do it and this exposes them," says leading advocate Girish Patel, arguing that Asha Bil, being a tribal, is not acceptable to the BJP.

Meanwhile, Ahmedabad Mayor Lalji Parmar has already started using letter heads with 'Karnavati Mahanagar Nigam'. The municipal commissioner, however, still sticks to plain old 'Ahmedabad.'

"If Bombay can be renamed Mumbai, Calicut as Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram is acceptable in place of Trivandrum, why do people have to pick on Karnavati?" demands Parmar, "If the municipal corporation has accepted the renaming, I don't see why the state government should not accept it."

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