Published On: February 27, 2023 1:59 pm IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition seeking the renaming of all cities and historical places which have reportedly been named after “invaders”. The petition was filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who wanted a ‘renaming commission’ to find out the original names of ‘ancient historical cultural religious places’, named after ‘barbaric foreign invaders’.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna questioned the motive of the PIL filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, saying it will bring alive those issues, “which would keep the country on the boil”.
Passing the judgement, the bench said that the history of the country should not haunt its present and future generations.
“Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. Hinduism is a way of life and there is no bigotry in Hinduism. Don’t dig up the past which will only create disharmony. Can’t have the country on the boil,” the Supreme Court said.
Mr Upadhyay, in his petition, had sought direction to the Centre to constitute a ‘renaming commission’ to restore the “original” names of ancient historical, cultural and religious places which were “renamed” by foreign invaders.
While Mughal Garden was recently renamed Amrit Udyan, the government did nothing to rename the roads named after invaders, the petition said and contended that the continuation of these names is against the sovereignty and other civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
