Renaming towns, cities and other institutions has reached an alarming proportion in India. The renaming of the Motera cricket stadium as Narendra Modi Stadium last year created a flutter as critics saw it as a pride of our PM who allowed a stadium to be named after him during his lifetime. In times when the country is making rapid strides in science and technology, repeated attempts to nullify history can further aggravate social tension rather than soothing frayed nerves.
India has a long, rich history of assimilation where people of different caste, race and religion have existed. The dream of building a New India envisaged as a communalism-free and casteism-free nation will remain a dream as long as divisive attempts are made to rewrite or erase chapters of history. A country that is fast emerging as global leaders cannot afford to let an unhealthy preoccupation with the past cast a shadow on its promising future.
