Hyderabad: An online campaign for renaming the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamsabad after Quli Qutub Shah, the founder of Hyderabad, has been started on social media sites by change.org. The campaign was launched by city resident Mohammed Abu-Bakr on Facebook. The campaign received overwhelming response from the city denizens. Mr. Abu-Bakr who launched the campaign says “We should honour Quli Qutub Shah for establishing this city. In this regard we are starting the campaign to rename Hyderabad Airport as Quli Qutub Shah International Airport,”
The online petition is addressed to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. The petition claims that in 1591, Quli Qutub Shah, the fifth sultan of the Qutub Shahi dynasty, founded the city on the banks of the River Musi and he played remarkable role in making the city an abode of cosmopolitan culture. City denizens who supported the petition pointed out, that when Delhi, Mumbai and Udaipur can have the airports named after Indira Gandhi and Safdarjung airports, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Maharana Pratap, respectively, why can’t Hyderabad’s airport be named after its founder.
The petition lamented that “It is extremely unfortunate that Quli Qutub Shah doesn’t get the due credit for his vision and effort in laying the foundation of this city. No monument or road in Hyderabad post Indian Independence has been named after Quli Qutub Shah.’