Plea in SC seeking "Renaming Commission" to find out original names

NEW DELHI: A plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking to constitute a "Renaming Commission" to find out the original names of 'ancient historical cultural religious places', named after barbaric foreign invaders in order to maintain sovereignty and to secure 'Right to Dignity, Right to Religion and Right to Culture.

The plea has been moved by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay through his advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, who has sought to issue appropriate direction to the Home Ministry to constitute a "Renaming Commission" to find out the original names of 'ancient historical cultural religious places', named after barbaric foreign invaders in order to maintain sovereignty and to secure 'Right to Dignity, Right to Religion and Right to Culture' guaranteed under Articles 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution.

Alternatively, the petitioner has urged the court to direct the Archaeological Survey of India to research and publish the initial names of ancient historical-cultural religious places, which were renamed by barbaric foreign invaders, in order to secure the 'Right to Know' guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

The petition has urged the court to direct the Centre and State Governments to update their websites and records and mention the original names of ancient historical cultural religious places, named after the barbaric foreign invaders.

"The Injury to the Citizens is extremely large because Pandavas with the blessings of Lord Krishna and Balram, converted Khandavaprastha (deserted land) into Indraprastha (Delhi) but there is not even one Road, Municipal Ward, Village or Assembly Constituency in the name of Lord Krishna, Balram, Yudhishthira, Bheema, Arjun, Nakul, Sehdev, Kunti, Draupadi and Abhimanyu. On the other hand, there are roads, Municipal Wards, Village and Assembly Constituency in the name of barbaric foreign invaders, which is not only against the sovereignty but also violates the right to dignity, right to religion and right to culture guaranteed under Articles 21, 25, 29 of the Constitution of India," the petitioner said.

The petitioner said are many ancient historical cultural religious places in the name of brutal foreign invaders, their servants and family members. Invaders not only renamed the general places but also changed the names of ancient historical cultural religious places, and their continuation after 75 years of Independence is against sovereignty, right to dignity, right to religion and right to culture guaranteed under Articles 21, 25 and 29.

"But governments have not taken steps to correct the barbaric act of invaders and injury is continuing. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this PIL seeking a writ order or direction to Home Ministry to constitute a Renaming Commission to find out the original names of ancient historical cultural religious places, named after barbaric foreign invaders in order to secure Sovereignty, Right to Dignity, Right to Religion and Right to Culture' guaranteed under Articles 21, 25, 29. Alternatively, Court may direct the Archaeological Survey of India to research and publish the initial names of ancient historical cultural religious places," the plea said.

"The Cause of Action accrued on January 29, when Mughal Garden was renamed as Amrit Garden but the government did nothing to rename the roads named after invaders like Babur Road, Humayun Road, Akbar Road, Jahangir Road, Shahjahan Road, Bahadur Shah Road, Sher Shah Road, Aurangzeb Road, Tughlak Road, Safdarjung Road, Najaf Khan Road, Jauhar Road, Lodhi Road, Chelmsford Road and Hailey Road etc. It is necessary to state that the Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentarians and the Judges, who are custodians of the Constitution of India and protector of fundamental rights have the bungalow on these roads," the petitioner said.