Modi’s stand was exposed a day after changing the name of the road when he forgot his Kartavya (duty) and ordered the nation to fly the national flag at half-mast as a mark of respect to the Queen of England on her demise.
Syed Ali Mujtaba
PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi is giving his ‘subjects’ some lessons on Colonialism and seeking their adulation by removing some names that he thinks are symbols of colonialism and slavery in India. He did so by asking the nation to call the ‘Rajpath’ the road that runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, in New Delhi to call it ‘Kartavya Path’.
However, at the same time, he announced that the national flag, a symbol of the freedom struggle, will fly at half-mast as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth, the symbol of colonialism and slavery, on her death. This hypocrisy not only exposed the Prime Minister’s anti-imperialist stance but also lowered his stature as a patriot.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on September 8, renamed “Rajpath” as “Kartavya Path”. The reason he gave for the move is that “Rajpath” was a symbol of slavery. Little did he know the road that he calls “Kartavya Path” now was called “Kingsway” during British rule. Our freedom fighters, after getting independence, changed the name from “Kingsway” to “Rajpath”. Here Raj doesn’t mean the British Raj, but the “Swaraj” to the people of India. However, currently, those in the mandarin of power seem to have no clue.
Now, seventy-five years after India’s freedom, the current Prime Minister wants to put a stamp on his authority calling “Rajpath” as “Kartavya Path”. In other words, he is trying to undo the vision of the freedom fighters who envisaged “Swaraj”, a new and free India from colonial rule, and Rajpath was chosen as a symbolic name.
The Prime Minister calling the “Rajpath” as “Kartavya Path” amounts to scripting a new vision of India where his stamp of authority is more evident than his acts of “patriotism”. His reason for renaming the road was exposed when a day after changing the name, he forgot his Kartavya (duty) and decided to bow the nation’s head to the symbol of colonialism and slavery as he ordered the the national flag to fly half-mast as a mark of respect to the Queen of England on her demise.
In an official statement, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced that the National Flag will fly at half-mast on September 11 as a mark of “respect to the departed dignitary.” Here the departed dignitary is Queen Elizabeth II of Britain and Northern Ireland, who is a symbol of hundreds of years of colonial exploitation, slavery, and plunder littered all over the world.
The stain of Indian blood on the hands of the British monarchy is evident from the suppression of Indians who struggled for the country’s freedom. Be it the Bengal famine, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the hanging of Bhagat Singh, repression against the Quit India movement revolutionaries, etc., it’s the common Indians who were targeted under British rule. These are just a few examples of colonial crimes committed under the royal insignia of the British monarchy. It’s the same monarchy that was carried forward by Queen Elizabeth II, without any remorse, reparation, or apology to the people of India.
How could our beloved Prime Minister give the orders to lower our national flag as a mark of respect to this central institution of colonialism and slavery? This singular act made India a slave of the British Empire once again. In lowering the national flag, the message from the Indian Fuhrer is: ‘Queen is dead, long live the Queen.’
There are consistent attempts to ‘whitewash’ and dissociate the Queen from these colonial crimes by portraying her as the ‘rock’ of modern Britain. However, the blood on the throne of the British monarchy can’t be washed away as it represents hundreds of years of colonial exploitation across the globe.
Today, when we Indians are celebrating the 75th anniversary of freedom (‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’) as a mark of respect for the glorious freedom struggle that we won against colonialism and slavery, our Prime Minister is calling for the lowering of the national flag.
Dim-witted people like me feel that this is an insult to the sacrifice of our freedom fighters who gave their blood to break the colonial shackles and got us freedom.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi by lowering the national flag seems to make the point that he is more loyal to the British crown than to Mother India. This is the most shameful act coming from a head of the government who talks about ending symbols of colonialism and slavery.
It’s Narendra Modi who by the surgical strikes on Pakistan emerged as a torch bearer of Indian nationalism, and reduced the Muslim majority state of J&K by creating two Union Territories of Kashmir and Ladakh which was hailed as acts of his nationalism. Now, he is telling the country to lower the national flag at the demise of Queen Elizabeth. Is it nationalism?
Does he know that Elizabeth II, who was crowned in 1953, was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch that presided over British colonial atrocities across the world? She was not a mere remnant of the colonial era, but an active participant in colonial repression in the 1950s and 1960s perpetrated by Britain to brutally suppress the anti-colonial struggles across the world. Many countries continued to struggle for freedom for another five decades even after India got its independence. These countries faced violence and massacres at the hands of British forces enforcing the rule of Queen Elizabeth II.
India was lucky to rid itself from the clutches of British colonialism in 1947 but now in the year 2022 when India is celebrating the 75th anniversary of freedom from British rule, the Indian Prime Minister has asked to lower the national flag to mourn the dead British monarch.
Is this a national duty? A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) must be filed in this regard to decide whether lowering the national flag is an act of nationalism.
In the whole episode, what is surprising is the concurrence of the Sangh Parivar, the RSS, and those who chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Where is their ‘Bharat kee Asmita’ or national pride when the national flag is lowered for registering respect to the symbol of colonialism and slavery? None of these Hindutva brigades have raised a voice of protest against an antinational activity for which they may do or die.
Well, this is a new India. Here naming ‘Rajpath’ as ‘Kartavya Path’ is touted as ending the symbols of colonialism, but at the same time lowering the national flag for the central institution of colonialism is also bracketed as nationalism.
This is post-truth India where right is wrong and wrong is right. The decision about Truth and Lie, patriotism, and anti-nationalism are decided by the supreme leader of the country.
Needless to say, this India is different from the vision of the freedom fighters that got us independence from colonial rule.
Trivia – In the fleeting times of world affairs leaders do change their positions in the garb of nationalism but they can never be statesmen.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com. The views expressed here author’s personal.
