Delhi's Identity Crisis: Historians Challenge the Proposal to Rename India's Capital to Indraprastha

Nov 01, 2025 08:45 pm CST

Prominent historians Swapna Liddle and S Irfan Habib critique BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal's proposal to rename Delhi as Indraprastha, arguing that such a change would erase the city's multi-layered history spanning centuries. The historians challenge the historical accuracy of identifying modern Delhi with the Mahabharata's Indraprastha and question the prioritization of symbolic gestures over addressing the capital's pressing urban challenges.