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| - Fact Check: Mumbai garden named after Chhatrapati Shivaji's mother has not been renamed
The viral image actually shows the plaque of a dargah inside the zoo premises that has existed for decades.
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India Today Fact Check
The public garden is named after Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mother and there has been no change in its name. The stone plaque seen in the image is of a dargah that has existed in the zoo premises for decades.
Mumbai’s iconic Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo in Byculla, popularly known as Rani Bagh, is famous for its penguin sightings among others. Named after Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mother, it covers some 50 acres of land and is said to be the oldest public garden in Mumbai.
However, this time, it has attracted attention on social media for the wrong reasons. An image of a stone plaque has gone viral with the claim that the Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra has changed the name of Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan to Hajrat Haji Peer Baba Rani Baug. “Hajrat Haji Peer Baba Rani Baug” can be seen written on the stone plaque in the photograph.
Pratik Karpe social media in-charge of Mumbai BJP, posted the same image from his verified Twitter handle and wrote, “One more example of increasing Mogulshahi under CM @OfficeofUT. So From Veer Mata Jijamata Udyan to “Hazrat Hazi Peer Baba Rani Baug” ? By the way this is the same place where Penguins are kept which was
vision of @AUThackeray.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the viral claim to be misleading. The name Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan remains unchanged. The viral image actually shows the plaque of a dargah inside the zoo premises that has existed for decades.
The archived versions of the viral posts are saved here and here.
AFWA probe
Some netizens reacted sharply to BJP leader Pratik Karpe’s tweet, calling it “fake”. For clarification, AFWA reached out to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation mayor Kishori Pednekar over phone.
Pednekar said, “This is an utter lie being pushed by BJP. Nobody has changed the name, and there is no proposal to change it as well. I can even confirm that nobody will dare change the name in future. This is fake news.”
“The dargah is inside Rani Bagh, and we had installed the stone plaque some 5-6 years back,” she added.
AFWA then reached out to the highest authority of the Byculla Zoo. Dr Sanjay Tripathy, the director of Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, confirmed to us over phone that there has been no change in the zoo’s name. “The original name remains the same. Though people popularly call it Rani Bagh, the actual name is Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo. These are fake news being spread.”
Dr Tripathy confirmed that there is a dargah named “Hajrat Haji Peer Baba” inside the park. “It has been there inside the zoo since the British period. A beautification work for the zoo and its surrounding areas began some five years back. The stone plaque with an arrow seen in the picture was installed just to show the direction of the dargah. The plaque has been there for over five years now,” he added.
Upon searching the Internet, we found a recent video of Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan uploaded by a YouTuber on December 19. It shows the main gate of the zoo with the name Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo in Hindi. Further, the YouTube video shows the entry ticket for the zoo that also has Jijabai Bhosale’s name in Hindi.
Inaugurated in 1861, the Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan was earlier known as “Victoria Gardens”
The name was later changed in the memory of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mother. There has been no recent change in the name from Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan to Hajrat Haji Peer Baba Rani Baug. The claim is misleading as the stone plaque seen in the image is of a dargah that has existed in the zoo premises for decades.
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