Is using Sambhaji Maharaj's name crime? Raut on renaming row

Mumbai: Days after the Congress objectedto Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office (CMO) mentioning Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar in a tweet, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday asked whether using the name of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in government documents a crime.

The Shiv Sena, which currently shares power with the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra, has time and again demanded that Aurangabad in central part of the State be renamed as Sambhajinagar, after the elder son of warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji. However, Maharashtra minister and State Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat has been saying that his party would strongly oppose the move to rename Aurangabad.

Two days ago, the Maharashtra CMO, in one of the tweets about cabinet decisions, had mentioned the city as Sambhajinagar. However, Thorat had objected to it saying that the Directorate of Information and Publicity should not rename cities on its own and that it should remember that official work is a legal document.

When asked about it, Raut told reporters in Nashik that a governmentfunctions in the name of chief minister. "Is using the name of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and Shivaji Maharaj on government documents a crime? It is people'ssentiment and the government functions on the basis of people's sentiments," he said.