Fact Check: Is Jagan Govt Renaming Bhavani Island Near Vijayawada To Mary Island?

There have been a lot of controversies associated with the current Andhra Pradesh Government and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister with relation to his religious alignment. The Telugu Desam Party, the opposition has been accusing Reddy and his party, the YSR Congress Party of promoting Christianity in the state. Posts on the same lines are now being made viral on Twitter.

In the same line, an image has been circulated online, which shows what looks like a cement pillar, actually a part of a gate in Bhavani Island, a popular tourist spot near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna District. The pillar has a picture of Mother Mary on top, above the carving of Goddess Bhawani. Many of the images had captions which claimed that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy plans to change the name of the island from Bhavani to Mary Island.

@ysjagan What his happening in Vijayawada? How can you rename Bhavani Island to Mary Island.
Your painting hysteria is an complete absurd, stop that.
Just wait for his Delhi Tour��. You know who HE is?
#SaveHindusFromJaganReddy#jaganMohanReddy#JaganFailedCM#Jagan420 pic.twitter.com/gtbjm92jUe

— Yashwanth Abhilash (@theArmyBrat) November 17, 2019

This post was put up by Andhra Pradesh BJP Chief Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, accusing Reddy of allowing the blatant spread of Christianity by hurting Hindu Sentiments. Controversial BJP Member and Telangana MLA T. Raja Singh also shared the tweet, with a question on the name change as well.

రాష్ట్రంలో వైసీపీ పిచ్చి పరాకాష్టకు చేరింది.

బడిని,గుడినీ వదలని వైసీపీవాళ్ళు అవకాశం ఉంటే ఇసుకకి,ఇంద్రధనస్సుకి కూడా రంగులేసేలా ఉన్నారు.

అన్నవరంలో అన్యమత ప్రచారం,భవానీ ఐలాండ్లో అర్చిపై బొమ్మల ఏర్పాటు,భీమిలి ఉత్సవ్ లో మతపరమైన స్టాల్స్ ఏర్పాటు వైసీపీ మతవ్యాప్తిని సూచిస్తున్నాయి. pic.twitter.com/v34leSFvWH

— Kanna Lakshmi Narayana (@klnbjp) November 13, 2019

బెజవాడ భవాని ఐలాండ్ ఇకపై మేరీ ఐలాండ్ గా మారబోతుందా?

పైత్యానికి పరాకాష్ట… భవానీ ఐలాండ్ ఆర్చీ మీద కొత్తగా ప్లాస్టర్ ఆఫ్ పారిస్ తో మేరీ బొమ్మ.. pic.twitter.com/fBP4w9I3WP

— Raja Singh (@TigerRajaSingh) November 13, 2019

Many social media users shared the same:

In Vijayawada, Bhavani island is going to be renamed as Marry Island

#SaveHindusFromJaganReddy pic.twitter.com/3qxqO2rLcD

— Raja kamineni (@Rajakamineni) November 18, 2019

Mary's painting in the entrance of maa bhavani islands in Vijayawada.#SaveHindusFromJaganReddy pic.twitter.com/PjC0C0L8AG

— lnvamsi guntupalli (@LnvamsiG) November 18, 2019

Mary's painting & cross was added to entrance of biggest river island "Maa Bhavani" in Vijayawada after @ysjagan took over as AP CM
Why?
First occupy mind space of gullible hindus with Christian imagery, then offer rice bags & then convert@AmitShah#SaveHindusFromJaganReddy pic.twitter.com/POjM4mJAvJ

— Ritu (सत्यसाधक) #EqualRightsForHindus (@RituRathaur) November 17, 2019

Meanwhile, there were few tweets which seemed to counter the whole narrative. TV9 Telugu put out a tweet talking about BJP Chief Kanna Lakshmi Narayana’s stance. One user replied replied that Mother Mary’s painting was there before 2019. This post states that the painting was there in 2017.

Bhavani island arch bommalu 2017 speed boat racing time lo vesinavi ila ippudu chesarani cheppadam tappu kanna garu

— janardhana swamy l (@ljswamy2012) November 15, 2019

hahaha….pity on you….��������
Are you guys blind when the mary's statue is kept in 2018 itself for Boat festival happened in Bhavani island during Chandrababu Naidu's rule.
And you b*tt hurt guys blaming Jagan for this…Cry kids….cry������

— Sunny_Rewardz (@Sunny46797514) November 18, 2019

Fact Check

There have been no such reports talking about the fact that the name of Bhavani Island will be changed to Mary Island. There were no announcements as such made by the government. In fact, news reports from Telugu and English media houses related to Bhavani Island also did not have any reference to the name change to Mary Island.

When The Logical Indian contacted the office of the Principal Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Tourism, their response was that they have not got any such proposal from the Andhra Pradesh Government.

A photo of the gate uploaded on Facebook by a user suggested that the pillar was actually a part of a gate of Haritha BERM park of Vijayawada’s Bhavanipuram. The park is popular for boat rides from the city to Bhavani Island. On looking at Google Maps, it was clear that the park in question is a part of the mainland and not the island.

Screengrabs of the park from Google Maps were also captured, which shows that the park is indeed within city limits, while the island is far away:

Moreover, Hyderabad based news organisation NewsMeter also confirmed the same. According to the article, Vijayawada is famous for the Bhavani Temple and the Gundala church, which is why probably there must have been a portrait of Mother Mary on the gate. Moreover, the gate has the carving of Goddess Bhavani on both sides.

Conclusion

The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department has already given their statement, stating that they were not given any notice of changing Bhavani Island’s name to Mary Island, and have nullified the claims. Hence, the claims made on Twitter on the name change of the island are false.

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