Mumbai,Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced plans to formally request the central government rename the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay as “IIT-Mumbai”, in a move that has quickly reignited the long-running linguistic and political debate over the city’s official nomenclature.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Fadnavis said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Ministry of Education proposing the change. “As far as IIT-Bombay is concerned, thank God it still has this name. You have not changed it to ‘Mumbai’. So there’s another compliment to you. And also true for Madras – it remains IIT-Madras,” he remarked, pointedly referencing Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh’s earlier comment in Parliament that appeared to favour the colonial-era name “Bombay”.
The statement follows a sharp rebuke on Monday from Raj Thackeray, leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), who criticised Mr Singh for using “Bombay” in the Lok Sabha and accused the BJP-led central government of disrespecting Marathi sentiment. Mr Thackeray’s party promptly erected banners outside the IIT-Bombay campus in Powai demanding an immediate switch to “IIT-Mumbai”.
Mr Fadnavis sought to frame the issue in regional-pride terms while simultaneously issuing a broader political warning. “Some people have a problem with this and now that bitterness is coming out through such statements,” he said. “The name ‘Mumbai’ irks them (the BJP) because it is named after Mumbadevi, the original goddess of Mumbai. Her children are the Marathi people… Conspiracy to grab the city is going on. First Mumbai, and then the entire MMR region will be seized and linked to Gujarat. Marathi people should wake up.”
The Chief Minister added that the renaming of Bombay to Mumbai in 1995 – enacted during the state’s first Shiv Sena-BJP government – had been the “biggest contribution” of former Union minister and senior BJP leader Ram Naik, a remark laden with irony given the current tensions within the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
In a separate appearance in Nagpur, Mr Fadnavis told journalists that the state government would soon send a formal proposal to the Centre and, if necessary, approach the Bombay High Court (a formulation he deliberately phrased as the “Mumbai High Court”).
The episode underscores the enduring sensitivity surrounding Mumbai’s dual nomenclature – Bombay in English usage and Mumbai in official Indian nomenclature since 1995 – and its potency as a mobilising tool in Maharashtra politics. Successive state governments have periodically pressed central institutions to adopt “Mumbai” in their titles, with mixed results.
Established in 1958 with assistance from UNESCO and the Soviet Union, IIT-Bombay remains one of India’s most prestigious engineering institutions and a globally recognised brand under its original name. Any formal change would require parliamentary approval, given that the institute was founded under the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961.
As of now, neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Ministry of Education has issued an official response to the proposed renaming.
