Mumbai Zoo’s Name Wasn’t Changed, Image of Signboard Shared Without Context

The zoo's Twitter account clarified that the pic showed a directional board and that the zoo's name had not changed.

An image of a signboard which reads 'Hajrat Haji Peer Baba Rani Bagh' is being shared on social media to claim that the name of Mumbai's only zoo, the Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, also called Ranibagh, was changed to a Muslim seer's name.

Amongst the users who shared this claim was Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Nitesh Rane, son of Union Minister and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane.

However, we found that the board in question is merely a directional board for a dargah, and it doesn't depict a change in the zoo's name.

The Mumbai Zoo's account issued a clarification regarding the board, in which it stated that the board has been there for a few years to help people navigate to the dargah, which has been a part of the zoo since its establishment in 1861.

CLAIM

Sharing the photo of the said board, Rane took a swipe at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and questioned whether the party would change its name now since the zoo's name had been changed to that of a Muslim seer's.

Mumbai BJP President Pratik Karpe had also shared the photograph with the same claim.

More posts with the same claim on social media can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We looked for the zoo's website and social media accounts and found a Twitter account for the same.

An account with the username '@TheMumbaiZoo', followed by the verified accounts of Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had tweeted a clarification regarding the board.

The tweet in Marathi noted, "There is a dargah at one end of Rani Bagh, called the Hazrat Haji Peer Baba Ranibaghwale. This dargah has been there since Rani Bagh was established in 1861. The board in the photo is merely a directional board noting the way to the dargah."

We then found a Facebook post by 'The Mumbai Zoo', in which they had shared a YouTube link to a video on the zoo's history. This video mentioned how the land was demarcated for the zoo and how its name and management changed over time.

The video was uploaded on 15 August 2021 and it showed an arch at the zoo's entrance, which read 'Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan And Zoo' in Marathi.

We then looked for notifications regarding the zoo's name change and did not find any. Further, speaking to News18 Lokmat, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar stated that the direction board did not come up overnight.

"There is a very old dargah on one side of the zoo's premises, which is why the board is there. There is no question of changing the zoo's name," read the report, quoting Pednekar.

Additionally, we came across a YouTube vlog uploaded on 17 January, 2019 which showed a walkthrough of the zoo and made its way to the dargah. Around the 03:39 mark in the video, the same board is visible making it evident that the board existed even in January 2019.

Evidently, a photo of a directional board was shared to falsely claim that the name of Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan And Zoo, also called Ranibagh, was changed to that of a Muslim seer.

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