Cultural naming under scrutiny

December 5, 2025

The Modi government is committed to transforming Indian culture into history, creating a sense of the times, and giving dignity to the present. The government wants to erase the ruins of Britishness from the country. Not only is it attempting to revive the history written by foreigners with an indigenous perspective, but it is also attempting to change the names of roads, squares, and buildings in everyday life that, due to their meaningless, pompous names, symbolise our slavery. It should be noted that these efforts have been made before, but now they are being carried out with much more vigour in the name of cultural consciousness.
The Prime Minister’s policy of changing names surpasses all previous governments. Names were changed even during the tenure of previous governments, but the Modi government, committed to ancient culture and dignified history, is changing the names of squares, roads, and buildings that symbolised slavery.

These names have also been changed in major Indian states such as West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Mizoram. In our country, the changing of names is solely for the purpose of giving historical inscriptions a contemporary touch. The Prime Minister’s Office has now been renamed Seva Teerth. The Raj Bhavans of His Excellency the Governors have been renamed Lok Bhavan. The major name changes in recent years are as follows: Rajpath has been renamed Kartavya Path, Mughal Gardens to Amrit Udyan, Race Course Road to Lok Kalyan Marg, Planning Commission to NITI Aayog, Central Secretariat to Kartavya Bhavan, and Aurangzeb Road to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road. Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium is known as Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium. Allahabad is now known as Prayagraj.

The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library has been renamed the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library. Perhaps one reason is that when citizens hear these names, they will be inspired to sacrifice themselves for the country. Our view is that not only should names be changed, but people should also fulfil their duties in accordance with the dignity of the new names and move about with a social consciousness. This is evident from these name changes. There’s an old saying, “If you don’t colour your mind, you colour your clothes.” Simply changing names won’t do anything; the citizens will have to meet the test this creates.