SC dismisses plea seeking to set up Renaming Commission to restore original names of historical places
The plea had also sought a direction to the Centre and State Governments to update their websites and records and mention the original names of ancient historical cultural religious places, named after the barbaric foreign invaders.
;The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking a direction to the Centre to set up a Renaming Commission to restore the original names of historical, cultural & religious places which were changed by foreign invaders.
While doing so, a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna came down on Upadhyay for filing a petition pointing fingers at a particular community.
"You run down a particular section of society. India is a secular state, this is a secular forum", remarked Justice Joseph.
Justice BV Nagarathna also asked the petitioner as to how could 'invasions' be washed away from history.
“It's a historical fact. We have been invaded several times. Have we not got other problems in our country rather than wishing away for things which happened before?”, she added.
A visibly miffed bench also disallowed Upadhyay to withdraw the petition with liberty to file a representation before the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Justice Joseph also remarked that Hinduism should not be belittled.
"Hinduism is the greatest religion in terms of metaphysics. The heights which Hinduism have in Upanishads, Vedas, Bhagavad Gita is unequal in any system. We should be proud of that. Please don't belittle it. I am a Christian. But I am equally fond of Hinduism.", Justice Joseph added.
Notably, Upadhyay's plea had also sought a direction to the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct research and publish the initial names of ancient historical cultural religious places, which were renamed by "barbaric foreign invaders".
"Invaders not only renamed the general places but also deliberately changed the names of ancient historical cultural religious places, and their continuation after 75 years of Independence is against sovereignty, right to dignity, right to religion and right to culture guaranteed under Articles 21, 25, 29. But successive governments have not taken steps to correct the barbaric act of invaders and injury is continuing", the plea stated.
The plea thus sought a direction to the Home Ministry to constitute a "Renaming Commission" to find out original names of 'ancient historical cultural religious places', named after barbaric foreign invaders in order to maintain Sovereignty and to secure 'Right to Dignity, Right to Religion and Right to Culture' guaranteed under Articles 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution.