Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 27: The Supreme Court on Monday asked an advocate and BJP leader to “keep the country in mind and not any religion” while dismissing his petition seeking the renaming of all cities and historical places which have reportedly been named after “invaders.” The petition was filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who wanted a ‘renaming commission’ to find out the original names of ‘ancient historical cultural religious places’, named after ‘barbaric foreign invaders.’
“You want to keep this issue alive and keep the country on the boil?” a two-judge bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna asked advocate Upadhyay, who filed the petition.
“Let us not break society with such kinds of petitions, please have the country in mind, not any religion,” said Justice Nagarathna.
The court said in its order that “India that is Bharat is a secular country… The founding fathers contemplated India to be a Republic which is not merely confined to having an elected President, which is the conventional understanding, but also involves all sections of people… It is important that the country must move forward. Its indispensable for achieving the triple goals enshrined in the chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy, bearing in mind the Fundamental Rights also.” The bench added that actions taken must be such that bind together all sections of society.
Turning to the petitioner after dictating the order, Justice Joseph said, “You will realise at some point what we have done”. He added that “this court should not become an instrument to create havoc.” The bench reminded the petitioner that one cannot revisit history selectively and that there is no space for bigotry in Hinduism but the counsel sought to remind that the benevolent nature of Hinduism had resulted in it being wiped out from places like Afghanistan and Pakistan and Hindus being reduced to a minority in seven states even in India.
Refusing the petitioner the permission to withdraw the petition, the bench said the history of the country should not haunt its present and future generations. “Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. Hinduism is a way of life and there is no bigotry in Hinduism. Don’t dig up the past which will only create disharmony. Can’t have the country on the boil,” the Supreme Court said.
Mr Upadhyay, in his petition, had sought direction to the Centre to constitute a ‘renaming commission’ to restore the “original” names of ancient historical, cultural and religious places which were “renamed” by foreign invaders. While Mughal Garden was recently renamed Amrit Udyan, the government did nothing to rename the roads named after invaders, the petition said and contended that the continuation of these names is against the sovereignty and other civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The bench said India cannot “remain a prisoner of the past” with its history of invasions being constantly dug up and served on the plate of the present and future generations to “keep the country on the boil.” “History of a nation cannot haunt the present and future generations of a nation, so that succeeding generations become prisoners of the past,” the bench remarked.
Justice Nagarathna said the British brought the ‘divide and rule’ policy, which caused a schism in the society. “Let us not break it up again with such petitions… Have the country in mind and not religion,” Justice Nagarathna told Mr. Upadhyay. But Mr. Upadhyay pointed out how Indraprastha was built by Yuddhishtra, but there was no road there in the names of Kunti, Bhima, Nakula or Sahadeva. “Instead, we have roads named after Akbar, Ghori, Ghazni, Tughlaq… My mothers were raped by the invaders,” he protested strongly. “Akbar was one person who tried to bring about a coalescence… He worked for a dialogue among religions,” Justice Joseph said.
“It is a fact of history that we were invaded, that we were under foreign rule… You cannot wish away selected portions of Indian history. Have we not got other problems in our country today? We have to move ahead rather than go back to wish away things that have happened and then go to a period prior to that [invasions]… What are you going to achieve by all this? Our country has so many other problems to attend to… You want the Home Ministry to constitute a ‘Renaming Commission’ and go on renaming places and roads in the country? You know what pressure that will put on the Ministry?” Justice Nagarathna asked Mr. Upadhyay.
Justice Joseph said the purpose of the petition was to “point fingers at a certain religious community and keep the country on the boil.” “Your concern is about the past. You want to dig it up and place it on the plate of the present and future generations… Things which happened in the past cannot be used to incite disharmony now and in the future… India is a secular state. This court is a secular forum. The Home Ministry, which is a secular department, is supposed to take care of all sections of the society and not just one community,” Justice Joseph said.
Mr. Upadhyay immediately said he would withdraw his petition. “But we will not allow you to withdraw your petition. We just wanted to know your perception of history. Now, since we have heard it, we will deal with your petition… Religion is a relationship between man and God. That relationship is meant for all communities…Please allow our future generations to explore their faiths for themselves.