It was Friday morning. I went out and picked up the newspaper. I had a quick glance at the headlines on the front page. But my eyes stopped at the one which was written in a small box at the corner. It said that the Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani will initiate the process for changing the name of Ahmedabad to Karnavati. For the nth time, I asked myself – how is changing the name of some place going to help the society?
From Mughalsarai station to Deen Dayal Upadhyay station, and now this! Plans for changing the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj are also being considered. At a time when people are not getting jobs, cases of Dalits getting lynched are on the high, when women are still fighting for equality and the LGBTQ community is fighting for recognition – this is what seems to be important.
It clearly reflects the Islamophobic attitude of a saffron party, no doubt. In a country which is home to billions of people from different faiths, some parties are busy dividing the society on communal lines and harbouring hatred towards the minorities. Instead of making them feel that they are a part of the country as much as any Hindu, they are busy increasing the gap between them and the rest.
Ahmedabad is not just a name. It’s an identity. It is an identity for those who live in that city – ‘Amdavadis’ as they themselves say, irrespective of the religion to which they belong. The people, the buildings, the public spaces, the roads – everything in toto is what Ahmedabad is. A complete identity.