‘You want to keep country on boil? don’t belittle Hinduism’s greatness’
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking constituting of a ‘renaming commission’ to restore “original” names of ancient, cultural and religious places “renamed” by invaders, saying India can’t be a prisoner of the past.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna questioned the motive of the PIL filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, saying it will bring alive those issues, “which would keep the country on boil”.
“You want to keep this as a live issue and keep the country on a boil? Fingers are pointed at a particular community. You run down a particular section of society. India is a secular state, this is a secular forum”, Justice Joseph told Upadhyay.
Justice Joseph said that Hinduism has a great tradition, and it should not be belittled.
“Hinduism is the greatest religion in terms of metaphysics. The heights which Hinduism have in Upanishads, Vedas, Bhagavid Gita is unequal in any system. We should be proud of that. Please don’t belittle it. We have to understand our own greatness. Our greatness should lead us to be magnanimous. I am a Christian. But I am equally fond of Hinduism. I am trying to study it. You read the works of Dr S Radhakrishan on Hindu philosophy”, Justice Joseph said.
“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 British brought about schism in our society. Let us not being that back”, Justice Nagarathna also expressed disapproval of the petition.
It also said the history of the country should not haunt its present and future generations.
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”.
