The reason for renaming places(Indian politics’ renaming spree, 2018)

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 The reason for renaming places(Indian politics’ renaming spree, 2018)

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• Welcome to the past, an imagined land of glory : In the never-ending spree of renaming of places, we are being invited by some of our politicians to inhabit the past, a place of supposed glory. A lot of what is being sold may never have existed.
• Gurgaon to Gurugram : A rustic name Gurgaon was suddenly changed to a mythically glorious Gurugram, the place of Dronacharya. The fact that he had tried to disable his student Eklavya, was not a cause for concern.
• That glorious India : We all have been fed with the standard story of “A glorious India taken forcefully away from us 1200 year ago.” The “Swarna Yug” of Gupta period, and the “Sone ki Chidiya” needs to be reclaimed anyhow. The Muslims were responsible for destroying it all.
• Nothing new created? The perception is that once the Muslims and Mughals arrived, nothing new was created, and all existing glory was extinguished. The Taj Mahal was built atop an existing Hindu temple! 
• Muslims symbols : Since many symbols identified with India worldwide are non-Hindu symbols, there is a great sense of anxiety, and a desire to efface all that. One day, we can restore all Indian Muslims to their Hinduness also.
• Real intent : There is a constant pressure on Muslims to give up their identity – food, clothing, lifestyles, names – and adopt a more Hindu-like identity. Well, one day even Mosques may not be needed, as they aren’t integral to Islam 
• Cultural genocide : What is happening now is part of a long process of “cultural genocide”, where before the physical destruction of a group, its cultural destruction is carried out (Raphael Lemkin – Axis Rule in Occupied Europe).
• Diminishing a community : When names and symbols of a community are erased, it may feel that it has made no genuine contribution to the nation it is inhabiting. Muslims in India are being told that they have contributed nothing to it.
• The Discovery of India : Nehru said that India was an ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thoughts had been written, and cultures grew organically. He did not feel the need to go back to some imagined original point.
• Dominate them : What the present rulers are doing is administering a drug to the majority – the drug of an imaginary victory, and thereby keeping the minorities under perpetual subjugation.
• SUMMARY: The renaming project is all about erasing the cultural identity of the Muslims in India, thereby subjugating them in a process of ‘cultural genocide’.

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