Name Changes won’t help the ruling party to erase the history of India

As Shakespeare says, “what is in a name?” However, for political leaders, it seems like their stake to power is in these names. Since the Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) came to power, the country is witnessing a name change trend. Though this name changing is not new, in the past as well several cities have been renamed like Bombay; Mumbai(1995), Madras; Chennai(1996) Calcutta; Kolkata(2001), Bangalore; Bengaluru(2014) but the reason behind it was different from now.

Earlier names were changed to reject the linguistic symbols left by the colonialist. But this time only names of those streets, railway station, airports and cities are changing who have been named by the Mughal Emperors. Like Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj in 2018, Lucknow’s iconic Hazratganj Chauraha changed to Atal Chawk in 2019,  Mughal Sarai Junction and Agra’s airport became Deen Dayal Upadhyay. He was the member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and the forerunner of BJP.

The ruling party explain this move by saying that since, under some mysterious circumstances his dead body was found on the railway track of Mughal Sarai junction hence, it should be renamed after him.  But if that is the case then why Agra’s Airport renamed after him? What explanation the current regime would like to give for repeating the names? Is there any shortage of prominent personalities in their party?

Adding to this list, recently in Agra only, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath changed the name of the Mughal Museum which is under construction near the Taj Mahal. It would be renamed after the Hindu ruler Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

 Now, the question arises: why old monuments, streets, cities are renaming instead of doing new construction and giving those new buildings new names? Well, the answer to this is, to celebrate the mythic past. We have been told- and we also believe that Bharat was once a “Sone ki Chidiya( a golden bird)”. This historical imagination make us believe that that golden period was ended with the invasion of the Muslims on this territory. This unverified and unrealistic belief is so deep that it stops people to think rationally. Probably, that’s why the Prime Minister, Modi once said in Parliament, “the slave mentality of 1, 200 years continue to trouble us.” He was clearly lumping together the 200 years of British colonial rule and the preceding medieval Muslim era. Claiming that the Mughal rule was colonial is historically wrong- for it displays an incorrect understanding of colonialism. As Irfan Ahmad argues, “Unlike the British, the Mughals did not use the wealth of India to invest in the place they came from; instead, they became an integral part of India’s diverse culture.”

But the subconscious feelings is that nothing new was created during the Mughal era. It is that everything new was created before these rulers came and so, they have just given new names to the existing structures and cities, their names. This is a mix feeling of ownership and authorship and it generates from a deep-seated inferiority complex among Hindus that the symbols representing India largely bear a Muslim identity, thereby making India look like a Muslim country. And since, the right-wing party is in power so, they think that this is the right time to take back what was lost centuries ago. To support their move, they give ridiculous excuses. Like during the government of Vasundhara Raje( BJP member) in Rajasthan, several small villages that had Muslim manes were renamed, example, Islampur became Pichanva Khurd, Miyon Ka Bara changed to Mahesh Naga , etc. and the reason was that since, the majority of the inhabitants in these villages are Hindus so, Hindu name should be given to these villages. Another lame excuse was that the villagers were struggling to receive matrimonial prospects as the earlier name created the impression that these villages were occupied by Muslims. Such acts are fueled by the political outfits rather than societal demands. Of course, to consolidate the Hindu vote and to change India’s cultural landscape.

While the present regime claim that by renaming places and monuments they are actually “purifying” this land but the fact is they are doing cultural genocide. Curious how? Well, a community feels worthless if it is made to believe that it has not contributed anything to the life of a nation of which they are too part of.  In The Discovery of India, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru describes India “as an ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought have been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer has completely hidden or erased what had been written previously.”

 Hence, we cannot scarp all these layers to reach the so-called originals. Muslims are now feeling alienated in their own country of birth. Mob lynching, hate crimes, dropping Muslim writers from textbooks, systematic closure of Urdu schools and now renaming of Muslim towns – What next? When the fascist regime will be done by renaming and bulldozing historical monuments then it will be interesting to see how a Hindu India will look like after a religion-based transformation is completed. In that case, Hindutva will be the end of Hinduism.

(The writer is Delhi based freelance journalist. Views are personal)