Was 'Hind City' Renamed To Honor Indians, Hindus And PM Modi? No, Viral Claim Is Misleading

Following the recent renaming of the Al Menhad area in Dubai as ‘Hind City’, a claim is going viral across social media alleging that this was a move to honor Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the contributions of Indians and Hindus to humanity.

On January 29, the UAE's Vice President, Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, renamed the Al Minhad area and its surrounding areas 'Hind City'.

Claim:

BJP MP Anil Baluni shared an article by Arabian Business on the renaming with the caption, “Al Minhad city in Dubai has been renamed as 'Hind City' by PM of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Rashid. Under the dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi ji, India's respect and honour have increased tremendously on the world stage.”

RP Singh, the National Spokesperson of the BJP shared the claim with the caption, “Ruler of Dubai and PM of UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has ordered that a district in the emirate be renamed. Al Minhad and its surrounding 84 Square KM areas will now be known as “Hind City” to honour the contribution of India and Hindus towards humanity.”

Twitter page Megh Updates shared a similar claim in a tweet.

The claim is viral across Facebook as well.

Fact Check:

We conducted a keyword search for ‘Hind City’ and came across a report by India Today published on January 31, 2023. The report notes that the ‘Hind City’ includes four zones - Hind 1, Hind 2, Hind 3, and Hind 4, which are spread over an area of 83.9km.

However, there is no mention of Hindus or Prime Minister Modi or any indication of why the city was renamed.

Then we looked up the origin of the name ‘Hind’ and came across a Wikipedia result. “Hind is both an English surname and an Arabic female given name,” the Wikipedia page said.

We checked a Gulf News report published on January 29, 2023. The report notes that PM Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has issued instructions to rename the Al Menhad area and its surroundings “Hind City” but also did not make any reference to PM Modi, Hindus or Indians.

In our Fact Check, we also found a notice issued by the Media Office of the Dubai government on January 29. There is no mention of PM Modi, Hindus or India.

The notice reads, "His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, has issued directives to rename the Al Minhad area and its surrounding areas as Hind City.”

We also observed that this is not the first time a place in the UAE has been renamed. In 2010, Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa after Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed AL Nahyan, the then-ruler of Dubai. However, the former ruler passed away on May 13, 2022.

We also contacted the Government of Dubai’s Media Office for their official statement; however, we haven't received any response yet. This story will be updated once we get a response from their side.

Meanwhile, fact-checking website Alt News contacted the Government of Dubai’s Media Office for their official statement. Oven an email, they said, “Hind is an Arabic name that has its roots in the region’s ancient civilization. The renaming of an area in Dubai as Hind City does not reference any country.”

Conclusion:

We found that ‘Hind City’ likely was not renamed in a bid to honor PM Modi, Indians or Hinduism. The official reason remains unclear, but the renaming was not related to the Indian aspect, contrary to viral claims.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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