Its always struck me as an inexplicable mystery that the loudest critics of the governments attempts to introduce new history textbooks, are the same people who had not only condoned but who actively campaigned for the removal of statues of our erstwhile British rulers, for the renaming of roads and buildings, named after them.

Consider New Delhi. It was a city built by the British. And yet, we have gone out of our way to drop the names of Curzon, Irwin, Willingdon and so on from the urban geography of our capital. Curzon Road is now called Kasturba Gandhi Marg. With due respect to the Mahatma and his noble consort, even the most anti-imperialist, left wing nationalist must admit that Curzons contribution to Indian history was at least as important, if not more than that of Kasturba Gandhi.

Even if the sovereign, socialist, democratic Republic of India wanted to honour the Mahatmas wife, surely there was no reason to erase Curzons name!

And then lets consider Irwin. Do our super-patriots remember the Gandhi-Irwin pact? Irwin was the statesman who had the courage (in defiance of nationalist sentiments in Britain) to parley on equal terms with a half-naked fakir. What exactly have we achieved by renaming Irwin Road as Baba Kharak Singh Marg? I am ignorant of the achievements of Baba Kharak Singh (undoubtedly my fault), but among us friends, who are we kidding?

Those who supported the frenzied name change activity of the Nehru and Indira eras (presumably with the view of righting the wrongs of British imperialism) seem to me at least, to be on weak intellectual ground when they object to Hindu zealots who want to right earlier wrongs that they happen to feel strongly about.

In fact, Nehru-Gandhi family supporters have a long list of questionable actions to account for. Consider the fact that the Borivali National Park in Bombay (sorry Mumbai) is named Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Consider the fact that a large government hospital in Bangalore is named for Sanjay Gandhi: rather appropriately known among locals as the Sanjay Gandhi Accident Hospital.

Future historians of India may get confused. They may believe that Sanjay Gandhi was a worthy figure of great importance in our annals. Those of us who have been contemporary witnesses, remember him as a person who was interested in motor cars, who set up an automobile company that did not take off and had to be bailed out by the state. We may even remember him as a politician, a Member of Parliament for a very brief period and as somebody who may have done irreparable damage to Indias family planning programme.

By what stretch of logic have we concluded that a game sanctuary in Mumbai or a hospital in Bangalore need to be honoured with Sanjays name? Or have I have missed some thing? Did he make extraordinary contributions to ecologi- cal conservation in Maharashtra or to medical progress in Karnataka?

At the risk of treading on even more sensitive toes, I wonder about the rationale behind naming a prominent park in Mumbai after Kamala Nehru. No offence meant, but in the context of the many-splendoured history of our glorious land, are we seriously suggesting that Rani Victoria is not important but Pandit Nehrus spouse is?

Sometimes when I visit Delhi, I actually feel like weeping. We have roads named after Archbishop Makarios and Josef Broz Tito, but Curzon (who started the Archaeological Survey of India) is banished!
Makarios and Tito were doubtlessly important personages in their countries (I forget where exactly these great countries are); but their relevance for India really escapes me.

I used to have a theory. The theory was that the Indian voter is gullible. Therefore, if you use government funds to promote your familys name its a smart move. After all, many poor voters who receive houses under the Indira Awas Yojana or unemployed voters who receive jobs under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana believe the houses/jobs are given to them by the Nehru family from their own funds.

There is no gratitude in their minds for you, although you may be a diligent tax-payer whose taxes finance these Yojanas. Their gratitude is reserved for the one great family who by their largesse have endeared themselves to the beneficiaries; such gratitude is likely to be remembered during elections. In fact, some people believe that the land for the parks and the buildings for the hospitals did not come from the state but from the personal contributions of the individuals and families that they have been named after. It is as subscribers to this theory that newly-important families have begun to name flyovers and chowks after their loved ones, I believe.