What's in a name? The famous William Shakespeare's quote has been brought to centre stage again. It would appear that the current Indian administration is on a renaming spree across the country – eager to “reclaim” the lost “identity of India”. The renaming politics has yet again hit the headlines after the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him for the Constitutional amendment during the ongoing session of Parliament, required to change the name of 'West Bengal' to 'Bangla.'
She citied that the present name 'West Bengal' is in English and 'Paschim Banga' in Bengali. In the letter she said, "Name of a State should invoke a strong sense of identity among its people and this identity can be formed if the state's name carries the signature of its history and authentic culture." This was after the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution in July last year to rename the state as ‘Bangla’ in three languages — 'Bengal' in English, 'Bangla' in Bengali and 'Bangal' in Hindi.
Why now?
Soon after Mamata wrested power from the Left in the state in 2011, the TMC has been mulling the idea to change the name. Initially, it was 'Paschimbanga' but now TMC has proposed 'Bengal' in English, 'Bangla' in Bengali and 'Bangal' in Hindi. While Mamata has accused the Centre of going on name changing spree in the rest of India, the CM has claimed that the saffron party has "totally different attitude" towards the state as it doesn't suit their "vested interests."
In a Facebook post in 2018, Mamata Banerjee had said that name 'West Bengal' makes it come at the bottom in alphabetical order of state names and if renamed to 'Bengal' it will take it forward to no. 4. “Very often when West Bengal's turn came to speak... either the hall was half empty or the audience was asleep... It is important to move up the order, to be heard in Delhi,” she had said.
This is not the first time
Renaming of cities, streets or landmarks is not an act exclusive to TMC. After independence, there have been changes in the names of few states and cities, like Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru etc, keeping in view the sentiments of the state and local language. The first few decisions to rename cities (and states) happened immediately after Indian independence. These were some of the many efforts made by our new nation to liberate itself from the painful memories of British colonialisation.
But later, politicians started renaming states or railway stations for politico-electoral purpose. The Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj came close on the heels of Mughalsarai railway station being named after Sangh Parivar icon, Deendayal Upadhyay. In August 2018, India's Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government renamed this historic junction, most likely because the existing name referred to the Indian Muslim Mughal dynasty.
Across India, in most BJP-ruled states, governments are changing names of cities, streets and railway stations, stripping hundreds of years of history to “reclaim” Indian culture and heritage. It’s as simple as that. Soon after the BJP-led government came to power in 2014, ‘ghar wapsi’ dominated the political discourse as Hindu fringe groups went about reconverting Muslims to their “original” faith, allegedly even forcibly. In the build up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the spotlight has veered towards ‘naam wapsi’.
How name changing helped
In Uttar Pradesh, the renaming spree helped the BJP-led state government in garnering Hindu support. The BJP government in UP stepped out of the previous secular, anti-colonial, grassroots-resonant frame and is unabashedly picking names with a Muslim connection and changing them in an ‘us versus them’ messaging. It reinforces the signs that the BJP is ploughing a very polarised terrain.
It doesn't help, creates confusion
Changing names after they have gained universal recognition sows confusion. Many places recognise and respect this fact and have maintained dual identities for centuries — one, in the language of their peoples and another, which is directed at a global audience.
Even questions emerge like, what good did these city name changes accomplish? Do residents of these regions feel any prouder of their localities now than before?
There have been no studies done to date to measure the impact of city name changes but that there are costs is beyond dispute. When cities re-brand, highway traffic signs out into neighbouring states have to be changed. The biggest cost may be in re-educating outsiders about the name change, an intangible line item whose true costs will never be known.
