Is renaming of cities in India is an attempt to erase history by current administration?

Renaming culture has arrived again in India after 1947. Current administration in the country is on a spree to change names of cities and roads. Several famous roads of national capital New Delhi has been already changed to new names like Race course to Lok Kalyan Marg, Aurangzeb road renamed to APJ Abdul Kalam. Simultaneously, there are still pending requests with central administration about renaming roads such as Akbar road, Babur road, Tughlaq road, Shahjahan road etc. The authority lies with the administration agency that has jurisdiction over particular regions and could be contacted by anyone or any organization in favor of this process.

According to available information, criteria to consider such requests completely based on guidelines by Ministry of Home Affairs. Request should hold any historical context or respect sentiments of the people. Recently, Mughal Garden in New Delhi’s Rashtrapati Bhavan is renamed to Amrit Udyan. The garden generally opens once in a year in February for public visit when flowers are in a full bloom. The decision was appreciated by party supporters but on the other was criticized by opposition for overlooking inflation and unemployment issues for renaming the existing places. Some even called it an ‘attempt to rewrite history’.

But why Indian administration is actually renaming cities? While Bhartiya Janta Party called it ‘erasing of colonialism from India’ as an important task, Apporvanand, a lecturer in Delhi University commented on this through The Hindu, ‘The renaming of places and reclaiming of monuments are part of a large and long process of cultural genocide. The term might be extreme for some people but for Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the term genocide in his book ‘Axis rule in occupied Europe’ the cultural destruction of a group is as important as the physical annihilation of its members.’ However, Rupal Ganguly another lecturer describes the possible reason behind these acts. She said, ‘Renaming of the cities is not something we are witnessing today but it started in 1947 following the end of British rule in India. Several changes were demanded, some were not acceptable and couldn’t be implied by the central administration of the nation, then. But if we notice the changes were to remove British colonialism and the spellings were changed from English to Indian English and into local languages.’

On further addition she said that the ultimate motive was to remove British shadow from Free India and renaming existing buildings, places and infrastructure was one such way. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted ‘This new name not only shreds yet another symbol of a colonial relic but also reflects India’s aspirations for the Amrit Kaal’ after renaming of Mughal Garden. According to Mrs. Ganguly historical names always has historical context hidden behind it. And if we try to change things by any means, we erase a layer of history. ‘History means we are still connected with our past and until our past is standing with us, we have a reason of strong foundation of our country and the meaning behind present’, she said.

Changing the narrative to free India from colonialization is the motive behind changing names of cities, some experts are also calling it the move to erase every evidence of Muslims ruled the country. Political expert Subhash told EAT news, ‘Current administration’s priority to rename cities, roads or any place that possibly reminds Mughal emperors or their time of rule, seems quite evident. With their sharp emphasis on counter terrorism, religion priorities, and stricter laws, BJP has cleared its message. They want the country to be known for Hindu rulers. They are not bashing any particular community but simply want Hindu culture to dominate as they are maximum number out of population.’ Subhash also added that minorities in each country is a vulnerable section and generally goes through mental or physical trauma.

Certain names have been changed under Modi’s administration Rajpath to Kartavyapath, Allahabad to Prayagraj, Faizabad to Ayodhya, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium to Arun Jaitley Stadium, Mughalsarai station to Deen Dayal Upadhyay station, Gurgaon to Gurugram, Universities and villages renamed. Ruling administration is manifesting a complete new India’s image and could be seen working for it. As per Subhash, they have come up with a goal and they are working tirelessly for it. ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come up with a vision that is to represent India globally in every sector. He does not want the world to look at India in a shadow instead a free India with a progressive mindset, development, infrastructure and very important, digitized. These acts are just a part of this process. He has changed world’s perspective towards India under his work tenure’, said Subhash.

India is surely about to witness more renaming of cities, roads until under BJP’s rule. But ultimately, renaming cannot change the history or the memory.