Renaming robs city of past bit by bit, say historians

Mumbai: Prominent historians have said that the renaming of the cities stations, roads and areas of the historical importance has been politicised and that in doing so, the city is losing its history in bits and pieces.

Historian Arvind Ghanachari, who is known for his knowledge of the city and has been teaching at the University of Mumbai for more than five decades, said some of the changes have been unwarranted and at times misplaced. For example the use of Maharaj in Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) is what the Maratha warrior himself had asked people to refrain from, he said. “Shivaji had specifically asked the people to not coronate him as Maharaj but Chhatrapati, because he felt that the former had a feeling of being a ruler while the latter meant that he was a protector of the people. Maharaj was a word used as sign of respect in parlance, but again adding it to the station probably gives the powers some kind of political mileage.”

At the same time, Mr Ghanachari said some decisions like changing the name of Elphinstone Road to Prabhadevi was in keeping with Indian sentiments as the station was named so because the then governor Lord Elphinstone had successfully quashed the 1857 mutiny in Mumbai. He said, “I can understand Elphinstone, because it had to do with a person that tried to suppress an integral part of our history but again the thought that he didn’t do anything for the then Bombay is also not completely justified.”

Another historian Deepak Rao is more vocal about the changes in names of streets and areas in the city. He said, “No one benefits from these changes in names and by doing so we are stripping away the history of the city piece by piece.”

Pointing out that some names like the homo-genisation of Colaba is one of the unique examples, he further added, “The Colaba Road and Colaba Causeway, where the two ends were Colabachi Dandi and GPO has been renamed to Sahid Bhagat Singh Marg.  Now the entire stretch is known as SBS Marg and people neither know about this name change nor what SBS stands for.”

Names that were changed

• Crawford to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Mandai
• Marine Drive to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
• Queens Road to Karve Road
• Byculla Zoo to Jijamata Udyan