NEW DELHI LETTER
Since 1uh October, Maharashtra government-funded officials and institutions are prohibited from using the word “Hello” to greet someone when they receive a phone call. This term is considered by the authorities as “imitation of western culture”. They now have to say “Vande Mataram”, That is, said the Minister of State Culture, Sudhir Munantiwar, “I submit to our mother”.
This western Indian state, whose capital is Bombay, is led by a zealous elected official, who was appointed a few weeks ago by the Bharatiya Janata Party, India’s ruling party. Eknath Shinde, a Hindu nationalist, has decided to follow the new motto of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who, on 75 occasionse the nation’s independence anniversary, 15 August, invites the people of India to “removing all traces of colonial spirit”.
Since his access to power in 2014, Narendra Modi has continuously erased three legacies, namely the Mughal Empire, which from 1526 expanded Muslim influence in the subcontinent, the legacy of the British Empire, which succeeded him and ruled India from 1757 to 1947. , and Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of independence. School history books have been rewritten in this sense, cities, streets, monuments are renamed.
Narendra Modi undertook, for billions of euros, to overhaul the architecture of New Delhi, which was entirely shaped by the British in the 1920s, when Britain decided to move the imperial capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The Rajpath, a symbol of the colonial era, designed by architect Lutyens has been redesigned and renamed. The “Imperial Alley”, a majestic avenue that stretches for three kilometers, from the former palace of the Viceroy of India to the India Gate, a triumphal arch dedicated to the victims of the First World War, is now called “Kartavya Road”, or “Road of Duty.” »
Reverse the values of independence
On the occasion of his inauguration, just hours before the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, Narendra Modi delivered a strongly anti-colonial speech, arguing that “Rajpath”symbol of colonialism, is a synonym “from slavery” for Indians. “Today, the architecture and spirit have been modified. When ministers and officials pass this route, it will remind them of kartavya”, he reassured.
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