If it were not a criminal act, it would actually be funny. Like how you hide a toy from a kid, and tell them it vanished. Except vandals in Delhi tried to do the same when renaming a road. They simply stuck a poster over the original name, hoping people would take to the new name. One wonders how they expected Google maps and GPS systems to know their whims and adopt the name too?
Akbar Road in Delhi, one of the most breath-taking, tree-lined streets in the capital, was briefly “renamed” as a signboard was overnight covered with one reading “Maharana Pratap Road”. The iconic road, named after Mughal emperor Akbar, is home to some of the top politicians in the country and also the Congress party headquarters.
The yellow and pink poster, apparently put up by vandals, has been removed from the signboard under police supervision. The ruling government has been insisting on renaming the road after Rajput King Maharana Pratap, who battled Akbar in 1576.
In 2015, the civic body had changed the name of another prominent road named after Akbar’s great-grandson Aurangzeb, whose legacy is far from glorious. Aurangzeb Road became Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road after the former president and missile man who died that year.
Image Credit: indiatoday
While the legacy of APJ Abdul Kalam and his contribution to the nation, cannot be denied, one wonders at this insistence on renaming roads. After all, roads are named only for postal, administrative and locational convenience. What’s the pride in naming a road after a historical hero?
Earlier the Race Course Road in Delhi was rechristened as Lok Kalyan Marg. They renamed the Irwin Hospital and Wellingdon Hospital as Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital respectively. It seems that the renaming spree will go on endlessly till the old order is changed.
Does the government hope to rewrite history by renaming roads? Does that really work? And is it necessary? Though historical research may require more efforts and funding, would not that be the correct path to uncover facts, than merely trying to rewire collective memory by renaming roads? Right now, renaming roads them just confuses the people.
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