Bhopal Raj Bhavan located in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, will now be known as ‘Lok Bhawan’. This change has been made following the instructions of the Home Ministry of the Government of India. The nameplate has also been changed, it has been changed to Lok Bhawan instead of Raj Bhawan. The Central Government has directed all the states to rename Raj Bhawan as Lok Bhawan.
Names changed in these states
Apart from Madhya Pradesh, Raj Bhawan of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Tripura, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Union Territory of Delhi and Ladakh has been renamed as Lok Bhawan.
Journey from Governor House to Lok Bhawan
During the British period, the official residence of the Governor posted in the states was called Governor House. After independence, English names were changed to Hindi. For this reason the name of the Governor’s House was changed to Raj Bhawan. According to media reports, the first Indian Governor-General C Rajagopalachari had given the name Raj Bhawan. Now it has been converted into Lok Bhawan.
Attempt to get closer to the public
The central government had issued instructions to all the states on 25 November 2025. In this, there was a recommendation to change the name of Raj Bhavan located in the states to Lok Bhavan. The Central Government believes that Raj Bhavan shows a glimpse of colonialism in some way or the other. The Government of India wants these buildings to be open to the public, accessible and more humane.
