SC rejects Ashwini Upadhyay's plea for 'renaming commission' on historical places

A Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice K M Joseph and Justice B V Nagarathna told petitioner and BJP member-advocate Ashwini Upadhyay not to run down the path where India is not a secular country. Upadhyay sought the constitution of a 'renaming commission' to identify and rename historical places that were named after foreign invaders.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by BJP member and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay who sought the constitution of a 'renaming commission' by the Home Ministry to identify and rename historical places that were named after foreign invaders.

An SC bench comprising of Justice K M Joseph and Justice B V Nagarathna said that names of places are a part of history and cannot be wished away selectively, so focus should rather be given to other serious problems that our country is facing. "What are you going to achieve by this? Why do you want the Home Ministry to constitute a committee and focus on this? There are so many other problems," said J Nagarathna.

"You are going back to the past selectively. Ultimately what will be achieved? After India got its constitution we have become a democratic country You are pointing fingers at a particular community. You want to go back. You want to run down the path where India is not a secular country. Everybody has to be protected," Justice Joseph said.

The court said that such a petition will create more rift in society. "Hinduism is a way of life. India has assimilated here everyone whether invader or friend. You know how the divide and rule policy was started by the Britishers. Let's not do that again through such petitions. Have the country in mind and not religion," said J Nagarathna.

The court observed that a country cannot remain the prisoner of the past and India is not Republic just because it has a president but also involves all sections of people in a democracy. It further said that it is important for the country to move forward to achieve goals which are listed in directive principles.

"History of any nation cannot haunt the present and future generation to the point that the succeeding generation becomes the prisoners of the past," observed the court. Petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay repeatedly argued that there are cities in Vedas which have been later renamed after foreign invaders and there are no names after Kunti, Arjun etc.

The court said that Hinduism is the greatest religion and its greatness should not be belittled. Our greatness should be magnanimous and everybody should understand this, Justice Joseph said, adding that he was a Christian but he was equally fascinated by Hindusim and he was trying to read about it.

Justice Nagarathna said it's called a way of life and there is no bigotry in Hinduism. Upadhyay had raised objections to various places named after "barbaric foreign invaders" and the government not doing anything about it. He mainly talked about Muslim rulers like Aurangzeb after whom there are places, roads etc named.