Governance won’t change by changing names: Historian Irfan Habib

New Delhi, September 9

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Governance will not change by rechristening roads or buildings, noted historian S Irfan Habib said on Friday and accused the BJP government of playing politics over it.

The BJP government is “obsessed” with leaving its mark on everything, he said a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the name of Rajpath to Kartavya Path stressing that the previous name symbolising India’s “slavery” and has now been consigned to history.

This government has an “obsession” to do something which will leave a mark that this was done by a certain individual who was a “great leader”, the historian said.

“It is all political. Call it politics then, because you want to leave your own mark,” he told PTI in an interview.

Habib said it makes no sense to use the context of erasing colonial history to rechristen something “since you don’t like a particular name”.

During colonial times, there were Kingsway and Queensway. After Independence, one was named Rajpath and the other Janpath, he said.

“I feel it is being consciously misinterpreted because the government wants to show that it is trying to delink present India with colonial India, but actually it is not,” he said.

Habib said India has erased colonial history after it got Independence. ‘Raj’ means governance and not British Raj and ‘Jan’ means people and that is why the names of Rajpath and Janpath, the historian said.

Indians are already awakened and want the government to be awakened about their “miseries” – economic, social conflict and all sorts of things happening in the country, he said.

About changing the names of roads and buildings, Habib said, “It has no meaning.”

“Governance hardly changes. Governance will not change by changing the name of a road or a building. It has never happened.”

“The point is you want to leave your own mark on everything. That can be your obsession, anybody’s obsession, today’s government’s obsession or any other government’s obsession,” he noted.

Habib opined that name change hardly fits into any historical debate.

“It is all very political. Either this government does or the previous one did. I’m not saying what previous governments did was fine. They committed several blunders. Most political parties are obsessed with their vote banks. This government is obsessed with nationalism. They want to make everybody a great nationalist, as if we were not nationalist before.”

He also alleged that people who are “hyper-nationalists” were not even seen during the freedom struggle.

The noted historian said one has to make a distinction between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is imperative and everybody needs to be a patriot, but nationalism is something else, he said.

“Today we need to be patriots, loyal to the country. But now we are finding enemies within to be nationalists and are calling our own people different names like Naxals and ultra-Naxals,” Habib said.

“This is all politics. I don’t see any seriousness in this,” he said.

Habib alleged that different governments have indulged in this sort of narrative, but this dispensation has “gone beyond that”.

“About Kartavya Path, this is a very conscious attempt to erase something which need not be erased at all. It is being linked to colonial heritage, which it is not. This is because you don’t like it and you want your own stamp,” he said.

Habib said Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s statue in the colonial canopy at India Gate does not fit well. He also alleged that the narrative about Netaji being ignored is being pushed time and again.

“If you are so obsessed with Netaji, look at his ideas and look at the INA, not as a great army but its character and how it fought, what names were given to different brigades and how gender was used by Netaji,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi on Thursday said Rajpath symbolised India’s “slavery” and has now been consigned to history as he inaugurated the revamped stretch with a new name, Kartavya Path, and unveiled a statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.

In a swipe at previous Congress governments, he said had India followed the path shown by Bose, then it would have reached new heights but the iconic leader was sadly forgotten and his symbols and ideas were ignored. He added that imprints of his ideals and dreams are now visible in the BJP government’s works.

Kingsway or Rajpath, a symbol of slavery, has been consigned to history and erased forever, Modi said, asserting that a new history has taken birth in Kartavya Path and this along with Netaji’s statue will now guide and inspire the country.

“People will see the India of the future in them and its energy will instil them with a new vision for a great India,” he said.