A key aspect of Post-independence India's political integration was the harmonization of names and territories of both states and cities.
The reorganization enhanced administrative convenience and also quelled movements demanding establishment of 'linguistic states'[4].Later, Madras (the capital of Tamil Nadu) was rebranded as Chennai in 1996[citation needed].
The name of Calcutta, which was amongst the first cities to be settled by the British, was changed to Kolkata (local Bengali pronunciation) in 2001.
Even (Romanised) English spellings in long and wide use often vary depending upon which government department or agency uses them.
Such changes in English spelling may be in order to better reflect a more accurate phonetic transliteration of the local name, or may be for other reasons.
In the early years after Indian independence, many name changes were affected in northern India for English spellings of Hindi place names that had simply been Romanized inconsistently by the British administration – such as the British spelling Jubbulpore, renamed Jabalpur (जबलपुर) among the first changes in 1947.
More recent and high-profile changes – including renaming such major cities as Calcutta to Kolkata – have generated greater controversy.
In the case of smaller towns and districts which were less notable outside and inside India, and where a well known English name (or exonym) could not be said to exist, older spellings used under British India may not have had any specific legislation other than changes in practice on the romanization of indigenous Indian language names.
2018 developments like renaming of Allahabad (tracing back to Mughal rule) to Prayagraj (ancient name in Sanskrit) and Faizabad district to Ayodhya district (a holy city of Hinduism) in Uttar Pradesh were subject to some controversy.
While the BJP-led State Government argued that it was a restoration of its historical name,[34] some critics allege that it was an attempt to enforce a 'Hindutva agenda'[35] and contradict India's constitutional status as a Secular nation.