[Reader-list] Petition against renaming of Delhi's Aurangzeb Road

[Shohini Ghosh]

Dear Samvit

Please try a new line of argument, This is 20 years old.

Warmly
Shohini

On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 12:39 PM, Samvit <samvitr at gmail.com> wrote:

> You are only worried about one mosque (Babri) but never speak about the
> hundreds of hindu temples that were burnt by muslims in Kashmir Valley.
> There was a genocide of the Hindus in the Valley and you never talk about
> it.
> Hindu women were raped, men murdered and temples destroyed. Anything that
> was remotely hindu was destroyed. So let us not talk about Babri, let us
> talk about reversing the genocide of the hindus in the Valley.
>
> On Sat, Aug 29, 2015 at 8:08 AM, Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Please Reverse the Renaming of Delhi’s Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam
> > Road
> >
> > A petition being sent to
> >
> > The Chairman, New Delhi Municipal Corporation,
> >
> > The Chief Minister of Delhi,
> >
> > The Prime Minister of India
> >
> >
> > Many of you are congratulating each other on changing the name of Delhi’s
> > Aurangzeb’s Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road, and are happy that the ‘wrongs
> of
> > history’ have been corrected (as Mr.Maheish Girri has been claiming).
> This
> > renaming simply proves that the decision makers of this nation and the
> city
> > have absolutely no knowledge of our rich historical past, and are ready
> to
> > act on such important matters based on rumours and popular demand. To
> many
> > of us, this renaming is symbolically as incorrect and unfortunate as the
> > 1992 demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya, since that was also done on
> > ‘public demand’ and to ‘correct the wrongs of history’.
> >
> > We would like to know the following: Was any scholar or historian
> > consulted before renaming of Aurangzeb road? How have we come to the
> > conclusion that Aurangzeb was an evil person whose name needed to be
> > removed from our heritage? Was his history and achievements read and
> > understood properly by the people who made this decision? Did any public
> > debate take place to decide the pros and cons of this renaming? Has an
> > authentic and legal document (using the correct historical sources) been
> > prepared to justify this renaming? Can that document be made public? Is
> > renaming of roads as ordinary as cleaning of a road that can be done by a
> > Municipal Corporation? According to what logic was only Dr.APJ Abdul
> Kalam
> > considered the right person to take Aurangzeb’s place in history? Dr.
> Kalam
> > is definitely a person worthy of remembrance and a memorial. But why
> > couldn’t any new road or institution be named after him? Can’t we give
> him
> > a more respectful tribute than such a politically controversial one? Do
> we
> > want our future generations to remember that the name of one ‘bad’ Muslim
> > was replaced by a ‘good’ Muslim? Is that the kind of history we want to
> > propagate in this country?
> >
> > We understand that naming of roads, buildings and other public places can
> > become a political act – many roads and entities have been named after
> > people who did not deserve to be remembered, but their name simply helped
> > in the establishment of a certain political identity. But how long will
> > this naming and renaming continue to suit our political end?
> >
> > We appeal you to reconsider your decision to rename the Aurangzeb Road.
> We
> > request you to think of a new road or institution to be named after
> Dr.APJ
> > Abdul Kalam, which he truly deserves. We also request you to arrange
> public
> > or legal debate involving people who are knowledgeable about the subject
> > before making such decisions in future.
> >
> > Thanking you.
> >
> >
> > Please sign (and add your comments to) this petition at
> > https://goo.gl/ZmZXhP
> >
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