We recently heard that there was a proposal to rename New Delhi’s famous Akbar Road as Rana Pratap Road. Let’s not go in to the comparative merits of the two rulers who lived around the same time in history. Since they were both very important rulers in Indian history and since they both did what they had to do as kings and rulers, we can’t really give an opinion on who is better. However, let us look at the utter futility of renaming roads, bridges, cities, buildings and the wastage of resources that goes into this.
You cannot erase history
When Mumbai’s famous Victoria Terminus was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, I thought how incongruous it sounded. There were no trains in the time of Shivaji while it is a fact that the station was built in colonial British times when Victoria was the queen of India. History cannot be erased and shouldn’t be forgotten.
Neither can you ‘correct’ history with retrospective effect
History tells us that Ahmedabad was built by a king called Ahmed Shah who named the city after four saints in the area also called Ahmed. The fact that the new walled city (many gates and parts of the walls built in about the 15th century are still in evidence) was adjacent to an older establishment called Karnavati is neither here nor there.
How far back into history can you go?
Turns out that before the area was called Karnavati, it was called Ashaval or Ashapalli when it was ruled by a Bhil King. So how far back in history do we go to determine what is the ‘correct’ name of a place? Clearly no one could decide so Ahmedabad continues to be Ahmedabad.
Really, how long back?
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There is a reason why a city came to be named say, Gurgaon. Apparently it was the large scale trade of ‘gur’ or jaggery in the area that gave the place its name. The fact that this small village grew into a swanky metro that is home to some top MNCs in the world is a credit to the place. The name Gurgaon has this context; Gurugram detracts from this context and this history.
It is cheap populism
Most typically, changing the name of a road, city, village or other place is all about appeasement. It is a quick, easy and effortless way to earn brownie points with certain (usually electorally influential) groups while detracting attention from real issues.
It will be years before anyone uses the ‘new’ name
Even though they say Mumbai they think Bombay. Bollywood is not Mollywood and Bengaluru doesn’t trip off the tongue as easily as Bangalore.
The change is merely cosmetic
Ground realities remain exactly the same as before. Did Gurgaon become any safer, cleaner, more organised after the name change? In a word, no!
No one benefits
OK stationery printers, signboard painters and a few other people will make good money for a while. Otherwise really, who benefited when Auranzeb Road was changed to APJ Abdul Kalam road?
Author – Reena Daruwalla
