ISN’T EVERYTHING IN A NAME?
They say change is inevitable, but I ask, “How much change is necessary?” Bharat, Hindustan or India has undergone as much change as have Bharatiyas, Hindustanis and Indians. When Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, he never ever imagined that Bombay would be renamed to Mumbai and that all its old world charm would be lost.
Whether to exercise power or to regain past glory, we don’t know, the roads, streets and spaces in India have been undergoing a rapid change of names. While in September 2015, Aurangzeb Road was instantly changed to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road in Delhi after a BJP legislator’s petition, very recently in Mumbai, Elphinstone Road, named after the erstwhile Governor of Bombay, Lord John Elphinstone was changed to Prabhadevi — believed to be the capital of the 12th century Raja Bhimdev.
While the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines clearly suggest that changes in street names create confusion and deprive people of a sense of history, why is it then that the Government always seeks to Indianise and localize every name that is a part of history? It forces me to think whether such moves are politically motivated to garner votes from a particular sect, or to appease a section of society which wishes to do away with the memory of ghulami with a vengeance.
Names render a certain beauty to a place and are as much a part of heritage as the structures that have withstood the onslaught of historical vagaries. I fear that to change such names would be nothing short of injustice to a place which might have witnessed great historical moments. I also fear, that one day, this name changing game will bring the place to disrepute and ruin the charm of a bygone era.