Omkar Dattatray
The acclaimed, renowned and world famous English poet and writer Shakespeare has said, “What is there in a name?” Isn’t it true that a rose smells same if called by any other name and so it seems that changing names of places, roads, cities etc does not serve any purpose but still the names are changed so often and there may be a ground and substance in changing names? It is not the first time that names are being changed but it has been happening in India because we like to replace Indian names to the colonial names and therefore we change British names of the places, roads, buildings, cities and railway stations etc and give indigenous names of the places and other things. Still we have not been able to change British names of places etc. There is no place for Rajpath in Indian democracy because long before the kings and queens have been erased from the political landscape and therefore there is no reason for having a road named as Rajpath and the name of this road which is from India Gate to Rashtripati Bhawan should have been since changed but it was not so. BJP led NDA government has now changed the name of a historical road Rajpath which has great importance in the country as the republic day parade and independence parade passes through this road, which now has been christened as Kartyvapath. There is a deep but obvious meaning in renaming the Rajpath as Kartvyapath because it will remind the leaders, politicians, governmental functionaries and last but not least the general public of performing their duties towards the nation. Therefore, it is not for nothing that the Rajpath is being named as Kartyvapath because it has a meaning behind it. Changing the name of road Rajpath will be a big milestone in the history of independent India. There is need to eliminate all signs of slavery of the British Raj. Erasing the signs of slavery will pave way for the mental emancipation of the country. It is very sad and queer that it took the country more than seventy year to effect the change in the name of the road called Rajpath. Now an Indian and indigenous name has been given to Rajpath. Modi and his government is very serious on the issue of eliminating the signs of British imperialism and colonialism and thus the government is changing and rechristening names of certain cities, roads and buildings etc. and giving new names to all the things. Rajpath was known as the Kings way up to 1961 and then in 1961 it has been changed to Rajpath and now it will be called as Kartavyapath and this is a big development. It is shameful that in India we still have the signs of slavery, imperialism and colonialism and the present government under Modi is doing a yeomen’s job of correcting the historical wrongs and giving new Indian names to the cities, roads, places et al. Earlier Yogi Government of UP has changed the name of the city called Kashi as Prayagraj. There was a great hue and cry among the secular lobby over the christening of this important road which is from sometime called and known as Prayajraj. How painful it is that even after 75 years of the freedom from the British yoke we have not been able to change the ruminants and signs of British slavery and we continue with the British names and this is nothing short of mental slavery. It is a fact that we have got independence in year 1947 but we are still slaves mentally and before it damages us completely we should take steps to give indigenous names to all those places, cities, buildings, monuments et al. There are demands from the people to change the British names which are nothing short of mental slavery and so people demand quick change of the British names and thus it amount to an aggression on the signs of slavery and imperialism. It is good that the governments both the centre and the state are trying to change the British names of the cities, buildings, roads as well as the monuments. The people of the country and responsible citizenry should appreciate such measures which aim at Indianisation of the places, roads and monuments so that the places, but the present BJP government is doing a yeoman’s job of altering the names of the places, roads and monuments. It is n o mean development if the signs and ruminants of British slavery is shown the door and the people should compliment and praise the government for changing the British names to indigenous names and this is no mean development in any way. Though the country has got freedom way back in 1947 still today we have to bear with the signs of slavery and British colonialism even after 75 years of independence which is very shameful. There is great and urgent need to eliminate the signs of British slavery and imperialism by rechristening the names of the British slavery and colonialism. Thus the efforts of the centre as well as of the state governments should be appreciated so that the signs of mental slavery are colonialism are changed and it will pave way for the eliminating of the signs of slavery, colonialism and British imperialism so that the Indian and local names are given to places, cities, roads and monuments. There should be no politics and appeasement over the genuine change of the names because it may backfire and will prove counterproductive in the long run. Much time has elapsed from 1947 and, roads and national monuments should are still called by the British names and there is no shame greater than this that we still have the British name associated with many places and things. Thus we should change all the British names of the historical places and the roads, buildings etc and give Indian names without further delay. So, if we have to free ourselves from the mental slavery then we should eliminate all the signs of mental slavery because there is no meaning and usefulness of the political freedom without having mental freedom. Thus, the people should cooperate with the government so that all the signs of mental slavery and colonialism are shown the door and the British names are replaced with the In Indian names so that we are freed from the mental slavery and imperialism. When in 1930 Delhi became capital of India road in question was named as the Rajpath and the name Rajpath continued for 75 years after independence. It is only now under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that MCND decided and passed the important resolution of renaming Rajpath as Kartyvapath and the same was dedicated to the nation along with the unveiling of the statue of Netaji Subash Chander Bose on September 8, 2022 by Prime Minister in Delhi. In fact central vista Avenue will be inaugurated by the prime minister Modi on the evening of 8th September. There is no need to create great hue and cry over the issue of changing names of things and replacing them with Indian names so that the people will feel the breeze of real freedom and this is possible only when we are in a position to rechristen all places and things with the Indian names soon as possible. No politics should be resorted to with changing the names of places and cities as well as the national monuments with Indian names. To conclude it can safely be said that there is nothing in the name but still the country has to rechristen the names and replace the British names with the indigenous and Indian names to give an Indian color to all the places which are still called by colonial, imperialistic and British names and the Indian legacy should be carried forward to the future generations and it should also be protected.
(The author is a columnist social and KP activist).
