Members of Mangaluru Zilla Tuluvara Horata Samiti releasing the poster, ‘Rename Dakshina Kannada: Save identity of Tulu’, in Mangaluru on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: Raghava M.
A collective demand to rename Dakshina Kannada district as Mangaluru district was made on Tuesday, a few days after the State Cabinet approved renaming Ramanagar district as Bengaluru South and Bagepalli taluk in Chikkaballapura district as Bhagya Nagar.
Dakshina Kannada District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) meeting, presided over by Capt. Brijesh Chowta, MP, on Tuesday, resolved to urge the State government to rename Dakshina Kannada as Mangaluru district.
Raising the matter in the meeting, Harish Poonja, Belthangady MLA, said that the people of Dakshina Kannada always introduced themselves as ones belonging to Mangaluru, and others even recognised them as such. There is a demand from the people to rename the district as Mangaluru.
MLAs Y. Bharat Shetty, D. Vedavyasa Kamath, Umanath Kotian, Bhagirathi Murlya, and MLC Prathapsimha Nayak, along with other elected representatives and nominated members of the committee, concurred with the demand raised by Mr. Poonja.
Capt. Chowta told the meeting that the resolution of the committee would be sent to the government.
Samithi pitches in
Earlier, Mangaluru Zilla Tulupara Horata Samithi demanded that the district be named Mangaluru. Speaking to press persons on behalf of the Samithi, a former president of Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, Dayanand Kattalsar, said that the Portuguese and British named the region as ‘Canara’ and later called it ‘South Canara’ which later became Dakshina Kannada and it does not gel well with native culture and ethos.
Mr. Kattalsar said there were historical references to the region as Mangaluru. There were some old ‘Paddanas’ (sung narratives) referring to the region as ‘Mangara’.
Like-minded people formed Mangaluru Zilla Tulupara Horata Samiti to take forward the demand, he said.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretary Rakshith Shivaram said the airport and seaport were named after Mangaluru. The buns (a snack) of the coastal region were popular as Mangaluru buns, while the tiles manufactured in the coastal belt were known as Mangaluru tiles.
Former Mangaluru City North MLA B.A. Mohiuddin Bava stated that the Samithi had taken up the matter of renaming Dakshina Kannada after the State government recently approved the renaming of Ramanagar district and Bagepalli taluk.
Former Mangaluru City Corporation councillor Kiran Kodical and former president of the Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners Association, Dilraj Alva, also demanded the renaming of the district.
In a statement issued on July 5 in support of the demand, Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyasa Kamath said that renaming the district as Mangaluru would give fresh impetus to the ongoing fight for primacy for Tulu.
A legal fight would be taken up to rename the district after its local name, just as many places in the country have done. The State government should favourably respond to the demand, the MLA said.
Published – July 08, 2025 07:33 pm IST
