Historic Controversy: The Renaming Saga of Indore's Residency Kothi

The debate over renaming Indore's 200-year-old Residency Kothi intensifies as Saadat Khan's descendants advocate naming it after the 1857 martyr. The Mayor plans to rename it Shivaji Kothi. Meanwhile, a social group proposes honoring Devi Ahilyabai. This crucial piece of history remains at the heart of current discussions.

The contention surrounding the renaming of the 200-year-old Residency Kothi in Indore deepens, as descendants of Saadat Khan, a martyr from the 1857 mutiny, urge that the historical site bear his name.

Saadat Khan led local revolutionaries in an attack on Residency Kothi and was executed by the British within its walls, with a memorial erected in his honor.

The Mayor in Council, chaired by Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava, decided on October 18 that Residency Kothi would be renamed Shivaji Kothi. However, a social organization named Punyashlok has advocated for the edifice to be named after Devi Ahilyabai, the erstwhile ruler of the Holkar dynasty in Indore.

(With inputs from agencies.)