Much ado about names

REAFFIRMING India’s secular ethos, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking the formation of a commission to restore ‘original’ names of historical places ‘renamed by barbaric foreign invaders.’ Pulling up the overzealous petitioner, the Bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna has acknowledged that we cannot wish away the fact that our country was invaded repeatedly and also ruled by a foreign power. The court’s assertion, ‘India cannot be a prisoner of its past,’should suffice to dissuade bigots from making demands to rename — or re-rename — cities, roads, monuments etc.

The court has sharply observed that selective revisiting of the past is aimed at singling out a particular community. The words of Justice Joseph — ‘I am a Christian but still very fond of Hinduism, which is a great religion and should not be belittled’ — underscore the values of tolerance, diversity and inclusivity that have shaped our nation. Any attempt to create disharmony by raking up the past should be unequivocally condemned not only by the judiciary but also by the political leadership. Unfortunately, the latter has no qualms about pursuing a British-style divide-and-rule agenda. Over the past six months, the BJP-led Union Government has renamed a couple of iconic attractions in the Capital — Rajpath is now known as Kartavya Path and Mughal Gardens have become Amrit Udyan. These changes have been portrayed as necessary initiatives for making India shed the vestiges of its British and Mughal past. Such renaming, however, is not a new phenomenon. When the Congress was in power at the Centre, Connaught Place and Connaught Circus had been rechristened as Rajiv Chowk and Indira Chowk, respectively. ‘Our government, our nomenclature’ is a motto followed by ruling parties of all hues.

India has a long, rich history of assimilation. The dream of building a New India, envisaged as a communalism-free and casteism-free nation, will remain a dream as long as divisive attempts are made to rewrite/erase chapters of our history. A country that is fast emerging as a global leader cannot afford to let an unhealthy preoccupation with the past cast a shadow on its promising future.