LET US APPRECIATE THE VISION AND INTEGRITY OF THE THEN POLITICIANS WHEN CHANDIGARH CAME INTO EXISTENCE. NO ONE SUGGESTED THEN THAT IT BE NAMED AS JAWAHARLAL NEHRU NAGAR OR PARTAP SINGH KAIRON NAGAR
From page 01 Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet wrote ‘What is in a name’? But for those who want to divert the attention of people from real public issues, there could be much in a name. Renaming of cities involve huge public expenditure and inconvenience to all concerned. But no one should be against this change if there is strong justification for it. Simla, however, can be changed to Shimla or Jullundur to Jalandhar or Jubbulpore to Jabalpur because of the way it’s pronounced.
HT FILE■ Simla can be changed to Shimla because of the way it’s pronounced. But may God save us from renaming the Queen of Hills to Shyamala.Since independence, more than a 100 cities and towns have been renamed in India, the major ones being Calcutta to Kolkata, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru, Mewat to Nuh and the latest Gurgaon to Gurugram.
The renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj has not gone well with many. In fact, Allahabad comes from Ilahabad, a Persian word with a wonderful meaning, ‘Abode of God’; I believe everyone will respect and accept this name. One wonders why this change is necessary. Aren’t there enough urgent issues that need the immediate attention of the UP government?
Renaming of cities, places, roads and institutions has become the order of the day. Not only cities or roads, but a large number of institutions, colleges or universities have also been renamed since 1947. For instance, two campuses of Punjab Agricultural University at Hisar and Palampur were elevated to Haryana Agricultural University and Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, respectively, after reorganisation of the Punjab state. Later, both universities were renamed Choudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University and Choudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University. So is the case with several other universities in different states of India.
Why does this not happen in advanced countries? Both Oxford and Cambridge universities founded more than eight centuries ago did not see any name change attempts by rulers or governments. The world famous oldest centres of higher learning, Taxila and Nalanda universities in India, were not named after any king or queen and their names remained unchanged over centuries.
The Union ministry of home affairs is the final authority to put a stamp of approval on a name change. The UP Government after approval of its cabinet for the name change from Allahabad to Prayagraj will refer the matter to the Centre. The Union government has the option to exercise its powers to not grant permission to rename the city.
It is time now to shed this practice of renaming anything; be it a city, a road, a building, a college or a university. Could the state governments and also the Central government look into it? Can the judiciary be of any help on this issue?
Why don’t the governments raise new cities, build new colleges or universities for honouring any outstanding personalities rather than following the easy practice of renaming these?
We are a forward-looking nation but at the same time there are enough lessons for us to learn from history. Let us appreciate the vision and integrity of the then politicians when Chandigarh came into existence. No one suggested then that it be named as Jawaharlal Nehru Nagar or Partap Singh Kairon Nagar.
Now the time has come when we need to think of a complete ban on any such activity. To honour great patriots, social workers, scientists and outstanding personalities, let us raise new facilities and exercise utmost rationality while naming of universities and other prestigious institutes.
Why hasn’t anyone thought about Indian-origin scientist and Nobel laureate Dr Har Gobind Khorana? Was any university in the country named to honour him while we have many universities and institutions named after political personalities ? Do we have any university named after Dr MS Swaminathan, who played a key role in ushering in the Green Revolution or Dr Gurdev Singh Khush; both of them World Food Prize (equivalent to Nobel agriculture) winners? Dr Khush bred many varieties of rice to alleviate hunger from the world.
Could state governments take the lead by considering legislative measures to put a moratorium on name change? Both the present and future generations will appreciate this initiative. May God save us from renaming the Queen of Hills and world famous historic tourist resort Shimla to Shyamala.