The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay for directing the Centre to set up a ‘renaming commission’ to find out and restore the original names of historical, cultural and religious places which were changed by foreign invaders.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna questioned the motive of the PIL filed by Upadhyay, saying it will bring alive those issues, “which would keep the country on the boil”.
“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,” Justice KM Joseph told Upadhyay.
Upadhyay had earlier this month filed the PIL, seeking a 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 PIL said and contended that the continuation of these names is against the sovereignty and other civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The PIL said alternatively, the court may direct the Archaeological Survey of India to research and publish the initial names of ancient historical and cultural religious places, which were renamed by “barbaric foreign invaders” to secure the Right to Information under the Constitution.
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”.
“India is a secular country, this is a secular forum. We are supposed to protect Constitution and all sections. You want to reagitate things which should be buried and not create disaffection,” the court told Upadhyay.
“Hinduism is a way of life because of that India has assimilated everybody. Because of that, we are able to live together. Divide and rule policy of the British brought about schism in our society. Let us not be that back,” Justice BV Nagarathna told Upadhyay.
