Qaisar Mansoor
Since BJP came into power, it has been spreading ‘us-versus-them’ philosophy in a country which is already been divided into various factions. Government bodies began rewriting history books, lopping out sections on Muslim rulers, changing official place names to Hindu from Muslim, and more aggressively contesting holy sites.
They also began pushing extremist Hindu priorities, including an effort to locate a mystical river that features prominently in Hindu scriptures. Mr. Modi, has become more toxically divided between Hindus and Muslims, between upper and lower castes, between men and women.
Prime Minister Modi and his party have created a poisonous atmosphere that has dehumanized minorities and inspired the violence. A retired historian, Aditya Mukherjee referring to Prime Minister Modi and his political allies as “communal fascists”.
The “saffronization” of history by BJP government is another way to disempower India’s Muslim and deny them a stake in country’s history. RSS also demands many other places with Muslim names, including cities of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Aurangabad to be renamed. Following incidents have dent the secular image of the country: –
In May 2015, Street Signs in New Delhi carrying Urdu/ Muslim names including Aurangzeb Road, painted black by Shiv Sina. Later, change the name to A P J Abdul Kalam.
In August 2018, BJP government renamed historic Mughalsarai Junction Railway Station in UP as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
In April 2016, BJP government in Haryana renamed city of Gurgaon as Gurugram, after Guru Dronacharya.
In September 2018, BJP government in UP proposed to rename airports in towns of Bareilly, Kanpur and Agra. Bareilly as Nath Nagri and Agra airport to be renamed as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
Yogi Adityanath is preparing to rename Sultanpur as Khush Bhawanpur.
Faizabad was replaced as Ayodhya and Allahabad as Prayagraj.
Hinduisation of India
The change of Gurgaon to Gurugram and the demand for the renaming of Bareilly and Agra airports as Nath Nagri and Deendayal Upadhyaya respectively may not be targeting Muslim symbols, but they are clear attempts to increase the prominence of Hindu symbols in India.
The apparent Hinduisation of India often harms Dalits as much as religious minorities. The BJP government argued that the city was renamed as Gurugram because the word “Gurgaon” represented a “distorted” pronunciation of the Sanskrit word “Gurugram”. While Gurgaon is a word from the day-to-day plebeian Haryanvi culture, the Sanskrit version connotes the upper caste Brahmin language and culture, and it is also linked to Dronacharya, a symbol of Brahmanical “upper caste” oppression against the less-privileged caste of Dalits.
For this reason, Dalit scholars saw in the name change an attempt by the BJP to appease its more privileged caste voters at the cost of further marginalizing Indians from less-privileged castes.
