Maharashtra to push for renaming IIT Bombay to IIT Mumbai, says CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis connected Wednesday (November 26, 2025) said his authorities volition constitute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Education Ministry, seeking to rename the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) as IIT Mumbai.

The announcement follows a governmental tempest triggered by Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s caller comments connected the institute’s nomenclature. 

On Monday (November 24), during an lawsuit astatine IIT Bombay, the Minister of State for Science and Technology said, “As acold arsenic IIT Bombay is concerned, convey God it inactive has this name. You person not changed it to Mumbai. So that’s another compliment to you. And also true for Madras. It remains IIT Madras.” 

The remark drew crisp disapproval from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) main Raj Thackeray, who accused the Centre of harbouring a mindset that undermines Marathi identity. 

Taking to X, Mr. Thackeray wrote, “Jitendra Singh’s connection is intelligibly a awesome of the government’s mindset. What is this mentality?” 

Mr. Thackeray went connected to allege a deeper conspiracy and said that decades ago, determination was a program to abstracted Mumbai, which belonged to the Marathi people, from Maharashtra. “That program was foiled by Marathi leaders and the people. Our Marathi Mumbai remained successful Maharashtra. The nausea that has been accumulating successful their stomachs for the past galore decades has started to travel retired erstwhile again!” 

Centre’s overreach

Mr. Thackeray drew parallels with the Centre’s caller plans to bring Chandigarh nether Article 240 of the Constitution which would alteration the President to straight framework regulations for the Union Territory which is presently administered by the Punjab Governor.

“The Central authorities tried to instrumentality distant the metropolis of Chandigarh from Punjab. They withdrew due to the fact that determination was absorption from each parties, but it is a impermanent withdrawal. Something akin indispensable beryllium 100% cooking successful the lawsuit of Mumbai. They don’t want ‘Mumbai’, they privation ‘Bombay’, and truthful the effort to dilatory instrumentality implicit this metropolis is definitely nether way, ” helium said. 

Responding to the controversy, Mr. Fadnavis told reporters successful Nagpur, “First of all, everyone knows that BJP person Ram Naik had made the biggest publication successful changing the sanction of Bombay to Mumbai. We ever accidental Mumbai, and not Bombay. We person been consistently trying to guarantee that ‘Bombay’ beryllium replaced with Mumbai. I volition constitute a missive to the Prime Minister and the HRD [Education] Minister to alteration the sanction of IIT Bombay to IIT Mumbai.”