The Narendra Modi government’s drive to rid the country of its colonial past got another push on Monday with the government deciding to rename Rajpath and the Central Vista lawns as ‘Kartavya Path’. The Rajpath was nearly a Hindi translation of the road named by the British as ‘Kingsway’. This comes amid a series of moves by the Modi government to erase images of colonial legacy in the national capital and beyond.
First, it was renaming Race Course Road as Lok Kalyan Marg, on the road where the PM residence is. Then, it was unveiling a hologram statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate, where his statue would soon come up in the canopy where a statue of King George V had stood till its removal in 1968. Last week, the new Naval ensign was unveiled by the PM on the commissioning of INS Vikrant, dropping St George’s Cross from the same.
This comes in the light of PM Modi’s recent speech on Independence Day where he stressed on the abolition of symbols relating to colonial mindset. “We have to give up the colonial-era mentality. Instead, we must rely on our capabilities,” the PM had said.
The entire road and area from the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose statue to the Rashtrapati Bhavan will now be known as Kartavya Path. “This is also a message to the ruling class that the era of rulers and subjects is over,” a government source said. The road was named Kingsway by the British in honour of then Emperor of India, George V.
NOT THE FIRST TIME
Government officials recounted many similar moves by the Modi government in the past few years.
“During Republic Day in 2022, the Beating Retreat Ceremony’s concluding piece ‘Abide With Me’ was replaced with Kavi Pradeep’s seminal piece ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ sung by legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. Earlier in 2015, the Beating Retreat saw some major changes wherein Indian musical instruments such as sitar, santoor, and tabla were added to the music ensemble for the first time. The retreat was thus infused with an Indian flavour,” government sources said.
The PM this year also unveiled a hologram statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate, which will be soon replaced with the statue of Netaji.
“The statue would be unveiled in the same place to mark the year-long celebration of the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. This was done at the canopy where a statue of King George V had stood till its removal in 1968,” sources pointed out. Modi also recently inaugurated Biplobi Bharat Gallery at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. In what has been named after an erstwhile British Empress of India, the PM inaugurated a gallery displaying the contribution of revolutionaries in the freedom struggle.
Government sources said many other moves depicted such intent of the Modi government. Like repealing more than 1500-old and obsolete laws which were mostly remnants of the British era, presentation of the Union Budget on February 1, instead of colonial-era tradition of the last working day of February, and merging the Rail budget with the Union Budget.
“PM Modi has been a proponent of teaching in mother tongue, as reflected in NEP 2020. This is a marked departure from the focus mainly on English-based education, the wheels of which were set in motion during the British era,” sources said.
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