Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated Bhopal’s Rani Kamlapati railway station after the Centre approved the Madhya Pradesh government’s proposal to change its name from Habibganj.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh had proposed renaming the station last week, reported The Indian Express. The state government had said that its decision was meant to honour Kamlapati, a queen of the Gond community.

The station has been redeveloped at a cost of around Rs 100 crore.

Kamlapati was the widow of Nizam Shah, an 18th century Gond dynasty king who ruled the then Ginnorgarh, about 55 kilometres from Bhopal. The Gond are one of the largest tribal communities in India, spread across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Odisha.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has claimed that Kamlapati was the “last Hindu queen of Bhopal”, who did exemplary work on water management and set up parks and temples.

The inauguration ceremony of the Rani Kamlapati railway station coincided with the Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, which is celebrated to highlight the contribution of tribal communities.

In the past too, BJP governments in other states have changed names of places with Islamic names.

In Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad was changed to Prayagraj and Faizabad district to Ayodhya. The Adityanath government had also changed the name of Mughalsarai railway station to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay station.