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Naming public buildings or facilities like airport, railway
station and so on has become a nuisance now because of the narrow-minded and
selfish attitudes of various politicians and other interest groups in India.
Those political parties, which are enjoying political power now, are more
focused on naming and renaming different entities and institutions according to
their preferences and political priorities. This dirty trend of naming by
political parties in various parts of India shows the failure of democracy in
India. In a democracy, people must be accorded the highest priority before
taking any decision but they are being considered and valued as voters only
now. Thereafter they are just worthless entities. Governments do everything according
to their interests, without minding citizens. I hate those struggling to extend
their artificial fame through these naming gimmicks and tactics.
Politicians lose common sense and minimum sense of ethics
while naming different bodies of the nation. For example, there are many
demands by worthless idiots in Andhra Pradesh to name some districts after some
noted figures in their respected regions. I give you three examples to let you
know the worthlessness of this trend.
1. Cuddapah (Kadapa) is a district in Rayalaseema region in
Andhra Pradesh now. They made it YSR district now. Since Y S Rajasekhara Reddy
is supposed to be considered the God of this district, they named it so.
2. Potti Sriramulu fought for the creation of a separate Andhra
state from Madras Presidency in around 1952. After his death, division of
states was started on linguistic basis. This gentleman was born in Nellore
district of Andhra Pradesh. So, they changed it to Potti Sriramulu Nellore
district to respect this gentleman.
3. Currently some interest groups are demanding the name of
Visakhapatnam district to be changed to Alluri Sita Rama Raju district because
this local revolutionary freedom fighter spent much of his active life in this
district. I strongly object to this proposal. Visakha is historically and
beautifully more worthy than the long name of this gentleman.
There are many instances in this country to show how
different public facilities are being named and renamed. I am disturbed
observing these crazy and senseless efforts by politicians and interest groups.
I strongly believe that we have no moral authority to change the name of a
region or facility into that of the name of a noted personality in that
locality. I have the following viewpoints in this regard.
1. There are many great people in almost every part of India,
not just one or two persons. This is applicable to all ages, not just our
modern age. Then, how can we choose the name of just one person to name or
rename an entity. Is it not insulting all other extraordinary personalities of
an age or region doing so? For example, many saints and achievers also were
born in Kadapa district. Y S Raja Sekhara Reddy cannot be compared to any of
those achievers of highest order. He is just a politician, who did everything an
ordinary politician is supposed to do. He did not do anything to bring a
historical change in the lives of humanity. Just because the folks of YSR have
the maximum political and financial influence on this region, during the last
few years, they changed the name of this district in that fashion. Is it meaningful
and worthwhile when perceived from a broader perspective of idealists and patriots?
The same is the case with Potti Sriramulu also. He fought for a cause. There
are many other achievers also in this district. Then why the name of this
gentleman only? Is it not stupidity, nonsense, mania and filth of those idiots
that named this district so? What moral authority do they have to change the
name of a district according to their fancies?
2. The name of a place or institution must be easy to remember
and convenient to pronounce. We are forgetting this basic principle while
changing the names of many bodies now.
3. There is no use in promoting the fame of dead persons
because their departed souls do not enjoy this phenomenon. We should learn to
recognize and appreciate those who are alive, those who achieved extraordinary
things in their lifetimes, that too when they are living among us somewhere. It
would be a real tribute to them. How many governments are doing it? We always
respect one, only if he or she dies for a cause but not if he or she is living
among us now, fighting for a cause. It means we are more after dead persons
than those living with us now. It’s a kind of devilish mentality, which we need
to shun. To develop a nation, we must respect those living now more than those that
died. If there are extraordinary persons in our history, let’s read about them
in our books and see them in our creative works like dramas and feature films but
not as statues and names of institutions. A living soul can enjoy fame through
a body it wears but a departed soul detaches itself from all its attachments
with this material world.
4. This country or any region in it does not belong to any
political party or interest groups. The base of political parties and interest
groups are selfishness, nepotism, narrow-mindedness and lack of impartiality.
It means they are immoral bodies from many perspectives. Then, how can they
name or rename various places and entities according to their interests? For
that matter, I don’t like even Mahatma Gandhi being promoted extensively in
different ways by the Government of India or other bodies of various
ideologies. Gandhi was just one gentleman. He sacrificed his life for the cause
of the nation. He was just one achiever of those times. Why are we not
promoting other supreme leaders also in the same fashion? Did Mahatma Gandhi
ever ask others to promote him? Are there no other great individuals who
substantially contributed to the development and peace of India over the years?
5. This nation does not belong to any political party but the
people living in it. The existence of various political parties in a nation
leads to anarchy and menace in the long run because each party professes a lot
to promote itself as a unique and different party from the rest. This situation
is prevalent in India now. Regional parties wish to change names to promote
their local leaders. National parties struggle to promote their leaders at
various levels. Is this not shameless fight and effort of various dirty
political parties to promote their fame in the most indecent way? What is the
contribution of Indira or Rajiv Gandhi to the substantial development of India?
They had been merely hard-core politicians. They acquired political power
exploiting the opportunities of those times. They enjoyed that status as
politicians and authoritative rulers of India. They did not sacrifice anything
for this nation. Then why should the rogues and nuts of the Congress Party
promote them so shamelessly and illogically? Why should they allot a vast
stretch of land for their funerals and graveyards in Delhi? When millions of
people are suffering from poverty, disease and disorder in this nation, should
we promote a handful of nasty politicians only in this dirty manner in India?
Those, who do not have worth of their own, really struggle a lot for false
prestige. It is the fame, which we don’t deserve at all. Almost every political
party is struggling for such immoral and illegal fame now in this nation. A
true leader never craves false prestige. It means we have such politicians in
India now, who are promoting their worthless leaders somehow!
I believe that we can name or rename something following
some of the guidelines given below.
1. When a name has the shades of foreign rule, which we got
rid of years ago. For example Madras becoming Chennai; Bangalore becoming
Bengaluru; Calcutta becoming Kolkata; Bombay becoming Mumbai; Orissa becoming
Odisha. They changed these names to represent their native culture and
tradition but not a person. It is an ideal pursuit. It is like honoring the
collective force and beauty of a region in its native fashion neutrally.
2. We should keep the process of giving names of persons to
places and other entities to the least because persons are temporal and mortal
but standards and values of a race or community may be everlasting and
memorable. We should value virtues more than those possessing those
virtues. Vice must be discouraged and
reformed always; in naming entities in particular.
3. Beauty is always a
favourite idea and phenomenon for humanity in all ages. So, if a name is
sounding ugly, we can make it beautiful. Ugly words can be replaced with
beautiful ones. This must be our first choice while trying to change the name
of a public place or facility. Thus we can make India beautiful, verbally at
least.
4. We can give the name of a native achiever to a place only
if we believe that such person does not appear in that region for another 1000
years or so to come. One must have such highest standards of achievement to
deserve such treatment. Even then, we should not prefer dead souls to living
ones in this context. The living must be honoured as far as possible everywhere.
5. This universe belongs to God. So, apply His names to as
many places as possible to respect your respective religions. Your passion for
your religion or community should not encourage you to hate the rest. You must
love all and desire to be loved by all. Idealism is more valuable than a
religion or community. You should name different places and entities to honour
idealism and idealists but not selfish achievers that live for a short while
only.
