Can anyone rename the child of another person and claim it as one's own? But the BJP's habit of trying to claim the child of others as its own without having to undergo the pangs of labour pain, is reaching new heights. This is a trade without any investment. It is a fact that framing new schemes, implementing them and naming them after some leader, takes a lot of time, effort as well as investment. Instead of having to undergo all these hassles, what happens when the names of schemes are simply changed? The Union Government which has failed to chalk out a strategy to steer the nation out of the severe financial distress, has now chosen the path of "Name Change" just to throw dust at people's eyes.
Such an initiative was first formally launched in Uttar Pradesh by the state's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. There is a history behind the name of any city, town or monument. A government which tries to change such names is in a way trying to erase the history of those places. There is no link between these name changes as well as the challenges faced by the nation at present. Neither is this name changing exercise essential for the nation. The exercise of changing names also have their social, political and economic contours.
In the past, the government uplifted those behind poverty line or the BPL card holders by this very name change exercise. Changing the yardstick for identifying the poor is also in a way equal to name change. If the government decides to term those earning even a meagre Rs 35 a day as rich, then the nation will be full of rich people. The government uplifted the BPL card holders of the nation in phases through such a change. Later, there began a name changing spree of towns and cities and thereby taking the nation towards the glory of the past. May be in the next few years, the Taj Mahal monument may even become Tejomahal. The government probably is trying to take India towards the Golden Era of Vedic times. People on their part are forgetting the reality by swaying in the name change euphoria.
Recently, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award was renamed as Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The government has said it was honouring Dhyanchand by doing so. But in reality more than honouring Dhyanchand, the government had the malicious intention of offending the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Sports has the power to unite people by transcending all barriers. It is regretful that the government is trying to break this unity through such sort of politics. Rajeev Gandhi is a leader who led the nation towards computer rage. He ensured the right to vote to those who completed 18 years. He was the leader who made India gear up to face the 21st Century, a leader who had great concern for the youth and who sacrificed his life for the cause of the nation.
If the then government had named the Award after him, then there might be a reason behind it. If the present government had announced a new award and named it after Dhyanchand, then it would have been really great. Or else the recently inaugurated world's largest stadium at Ahmedabad could have very well been named after Dhyanchand instead of Prime Minister Modi. But by sacrificing the name of an award merely owing to political rivalry, the government has insulted both the sport as well as Dhyanchand. Some of the names given for awards in the field of sports is really a mockery of the awards. eg. the Dronacharya award given for sports coaches and the Arjuna award for sports persons. Everyone is aware how Dronacharya who taught archery to the Kshatriya children asked Ekalavya his thumb as Gurudakshina for learning the skill secretly. Dronacharaya who taught only to the upper castes can never be an ideal name for the award for a sports coach. Similarly Arjuna who killed Karna by deceit can never be a role model for sports persons. It is not coincidental that today there are many people with the mindset of Dronacharya in the sports field.
Therefore the Ekalavya Award given by Karnataka government must be given at the national level. The Dronacharya Award must be renamed as Ekalavya Award with the hope that the corruption and casteism in the sports field will reduced. Our sports field is filled with more Dronacharyas than Ekalavyas. Such Dronacharayas themselves are a hindrance to excellence.
In Karnataka the Indira canteens are in news. Though the late prime minister faced several allegations. She made politics in the ‘name of the poor’ and not in the name of God. She spoke about feeding the poor and also ensured Geni rights holders got the land. She also contributed much towards the emancipation of Dalits. A big contribution by then CM Siddaramaiah were the Indira Canteens which fed thousands of people during Covid times.
The need of the hour is to further improve the amenities in these canteens rather than change of name.It would be better for the present government to frame a new scheme and then give a name of its choice instead of renaming the brainchild of former CM Siddaramaiah.
If such name changing trend continues, then the day may not be far off when the government may change the name of Corona and claim that the state is free from the virus.
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New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
