Mumbai airport and station to be renamed: Doesn't Maharashtra have any work?
The world may be burned to the ground but the Indian government officials would be busy trying to rename the charred planet, in hopes to reclaim the nation from the colonised post-colonisation mindset, and glorify past rulers or mythological legends who played with fire.
Keeping up with that tradition, the Maharashtra cabinet made the much overdue surgical strike on nomenclature by renaming the Mumbai international airport from “Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport” to “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport” on Thursday.
The airport was earlier known as Sahar International Airport, but was renamed in 1999. The cabinet also decided to rename the “Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus” station to “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus”, which is, incidentally, not its first renaming either. It used to be the Victoria Terminus, but in 1996, former railway minister Suresh Kalmadi decided to be more patriotic.
What? You thought only NDA ministers are aboard the nationalism express? Heh.
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| "The existing names of Mumbai airport and CST station refer to the great Maratha warrior in singular manner". Irrefutable logic. [Photo: Indiatoday.in] |
Believe it or not: Maharashtra cabinet decides 2 rename Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus as Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus 1/2
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) December 8, 2016
And Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport as Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. #truestory 2/2
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) December 8, 2016
The cabinet’s reasoning behind this stellar and urgent decision was purely out of love for the Maratha ruler and warrior. They are of the opinion that the Maratha king deserved more respect. They’d probably swear that this insanely jingoistic decision has nothing to do with the civic body polls next month.
According to a Mumbai Mirror report from December 2015, the state government has been hard at work with this massive endeavour for over a year now. The article quoted a state minister saying, “The names of Mumbai international airport and CST may be modified as they do not adequately convey the eminence of an iconic figure like Shivaji Maharaj”. In fact, there were plans to add the Hindu honorific “Shri” before the name, but evidently those plans haven't yet fallen through, yet. There's always a big "yet" hanging in there. Cheers.
As expected, the news did not go down well with anti-national elements in the country who have no respect for the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj:
Next will be Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj (Raigad wale) International Airport https://t.co/ybIavtIwKy
— Ankur Bhardwaj (@Bhayankur) December 8, 2016
Nothing says democracy like an obsession with glorifying monarchy. https://t.co/81VehkPBMk
— Utsav Chakraborty (@Shockraborty) December 8, 2016
Kaafi shaandaar decision. Very important to India. Pls support our leader. 1 RT = 1 respect. https://t.co/h1s996BPBP
— Sarthak Dev (@devellix) December 8, 2016
This. THIS is the decision-making our state government is focused on right now. Shame on you @Dev_Fadnavis https://t.co/ak2Swduyto
— Rohan (@mojorojo) December 8, 2016
@mojorojo It takes a special kind of insecurity to force people to remember pompous titles for a historical figure we should all know anyway
— Krish Ashok (@krishashok) December 8, 2016
"The existing names of Mumbai airport and CST station refer to the great Maratha warrior in singular manner. The state should request the BJP-led government at the Centre to make suitable modifications as the two places are among Mumbai's most important locations," said BJP leader Vinayak Mete in 2015.
Maharashtra’s obsession with Shivaji is nothing new. The Prince of Wales Museum was rechristened “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya” in the year 2000. If this obsession is not brought under check, possibly every road in Mumbai will be called Chhatrapati Shivaji Marg by the year 2020.
Priorities https://t.co/LxkKh2LTmX
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) December 8, 2016
Life-changing decision. Very, very useful to Maharashtra and India, right now. https://t.co/Own4EuXLJj
— Karthik (@beastoftraal) December 8, 2016
A key decision that will change the face of the ... er ..well, just the airport...:) https://t.co/OjznvwtucG
— Malini Menon (@journomenon) December 8, 2016
Phew. Glad that was sorted. So many lives can now depart at peace. https://t.co/jwKdMPlsTb
— Vidyut Fakir (@Vidyut) December 8, 2016
But, as is known, this is not a Maharashtrian problem. This is an Indian problem. As recently as April this year, the Haryana government decided to rename the city of Gurgaon as Gurugram because Haryana was a historic land mentioned in the Bhagwat Gita and Gurgaon had been the place where the fabled archer-teacher from Mahabharata - Dronacharya - supposedly taught the Pandavas and Kauravas. This woefully important decision to rename the city obviously trumped several issues like illiteracy, women’s safety, female infanticide and a dwindling sex ratio plaguing Haryana for some time now.
As stand-up comic Tanmay Bhat puts it nicely: "Priorities".