Overview
- Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union education minister to seek an official change of the institute’s name.
- Union MoS Jitendra Singh had remarked at an IIT Bombay event that he was glad the institute had not been renamed to Mumbai, citing IIT Madras as a similar case.
- MNS chief Raj Thackeray condemned the remark as revealing a hostile mindset and warned of efforts to detach Mumbai and the wider MMR, as MNS workers put up ‘IIT Mumbai’ banners outside the campus.
- The BJP dismissed Thackeray’s allegations, with party functionaries highlighting that the 1995 city renaming to Mumbai occurred under a BJP-led dispensation and crediting senior leader Ram Naik.
- No formal decision on any change has been taken; renaming an IIT lies with the Centre, and a proposal from the state is expected as some BJP figures also floated renaming the Bombay High Court.