What is in a name?

A petition filed by a Delhi citizen in the Supreme Court to change the name of India to Bharat, though dismissed, has once again brought to fore the obsession among many to revert to old names of places – towns, cities, countries, and in some cases even localities. In the instant case, the petitioner contended that amending Article 1 of the Constitution and calling the country Bharat – and only Bharat – will not only help the people of this country get over the colonial past, but also help instil a sense of history and culture, among other things. The Supreme Court however was not amused with the plea seeking to change the country's official name from India to Bharat or Hindustan, and instead asked the petitioner to approach the Government with his demand. Sharad Arvind Bobde, the Chief Justice of India also reminded the petitioner that both Bharat and India do exist in the Constitution and that citizens were free to use both or any. It is interesting to note that the apex court had dismissed a similar petition in 2016. The then Chief Justice of India T S Thakur had also orally remarked that every Indian had the right to choose between calling his or her country Bharat or India, and that the Supreme Court had no business to either dictate or decide for a citizen what he or she should call his or her country. Article 1 of the Constitution of India clearly states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States...." There are many reasons why a city, a state, or a country changes its name. While the most common reason is to rectify incorrect spellings and pronunciations – like Gauhati to Guwahati or Bombay to Mumbai, there are instances of changing the name altogether – like Madras becoming Chennai. There are certain other very interesting examples of changing names of places. The people of Leningrad, for instance, in 1991 voted to restore the city's original name, St Petersburg, in a bid to do away with traces of Lenin and Stalin's reigns. Burma became Myanmar in 1989 because its citizens thought the older name had an "ethnic-supremacist tinge" to it. Constantinople, once capital city of the Roman and Byzantine empires, was renamed as Istanbul in 1923 when the then government considered it important to go back to the traditional Turkish name of the city. In India, we have many more examples – Bangalore became Bengaluru, Calcutta became Kolkata, Gurgaon became Gurugram, Pondicherry became Puducherry, Poona became Pune, to name few. Old-timers would remember, names of many places – especially of provinces – had changed since India attained Independence, and the trend continues even today. While United Provinces became Uttar Pradesh in 1950, Travancore-Cochin became Kerala in 1956, Madras state became Tamil Nadu in 1969, Mysore became Karnataka in 1973, and Orissa became Odisha in 2011. Many people will probably find it difficult to recall that, until 1973, Lakshadweep was known as 'Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands.' In Kolkata, names of most streets given during the British era have been drastically changed. But then, people still have difficulties in calling Harrison Road as Mahatma Gandhi Road and Grey Street is Arabinda Sarani, Park Street to Mother Teresa Sarani, Waterloo Street to Nawab Sirajuddaulah Sarani and so on. In Guwahati, most people continue to refer to Radha Govinda Barua Road as Zoo Road, while only those travelling on a taxi would know that GS Road has become Srimanta Sankardev Path and VIP Road has become Madhabdev Path. In 2012, the then Congress government had changed the spelling Assam to Asom. But then some scholars hit back at it with such hard evidence and justification that the government was compelled to withdraw its decision. In recent times, there have been some very significant changes to names of places in India. Like the famous Mughalsarai railway junction in Uttar Pradesh has been officially renamed Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction. Way back in 1996, Mumbai's famous Victoria Terminus was rechristened as Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus. In Kolkata, names of many roads, parks and localities have been changed in the past 20-30 years, with names given by the British being systematically wiped out. Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath in 2018 renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj, and Faizabad as Ayodhya. Inspired by this, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani is considering renaming Ahmedabad as Karnavati. One BJP leader in Telangana meanwhile has suggested renaming Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar. William Shakespeare, in his famous play 'Romeo and Juliet' had very lucidly explained how names really do not matter. "What is in a name?" – he had asked, and then went on to say, "That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."