The Supreme Court dismissed a PIL on Monday that sought for the establishment of a “renaming commission” to restore the “original” names of historical, cultural, and religious sites that had been “renamed” by invaders. The court reasoned that India can’t be a prisoner of the past.
Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna’s bench questioned the purpose of the PIL filed by attorney Ashwini Upadhyay, stating that it will resurrect past concerns and put the nation on fire.
The bench said, “This is a fact that our country was invaded and ruled by a foreign power. We cannot wish out a selected part of our history.” The top court told Upadhyay, “Our country is secular and Hinduism is a way of life, which has assimilated everyone and there is no bigotry in it.”
Also, it stated that the nation’s past shouldn’t haunt its current and future generations. Earlier this month, Upadhyay filed a PIL asking the government to issue a directive creating a “renaming commission” to restore the “original” names of ancient historical, cultural, and religious sites that had been “renamed” by foreign invaders.
While Mughal Garden was recently renamed Amrit Udyan, the government did nothing to rename the roads named after invaders, the PIL said and contended that the continuation of these names is against the sovereignty and other civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
Alternatively, according to the PIL, the court may order the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to investigate and disclose the original names of ancient historical and religious locations that have been renamed by “barbaric foreign invaders” in order to uphold the Constitution’s Right to Knowledge.
The PIL said, “We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of independence but there are many ancient historical cultural religious places in the name of brutal foreign invaders, their servants and family members.”
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