Assam to change names of places that do not reflect its culture

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says portal will be launched seeking suggestions

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. File | Photo Credit: PTI

The Assam government has decided to change the names of places that do not reflect the State’s culture, said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Mr. Sarma, on Wednesday, tweeted that the government would soon launch a portal to invite suggestions on change of names of urban and rural areas that were “derogatory to our civilisation, culture and derogatory to any caste or community”.

He said the name of a city, town or village should represent its culture, tradition and civilisation.

Social media users’ advise

Reacting to the tweet, social media users advised against changing some British-era names of places such as Digboi and Margherita that are associated with the birth of the oil and coal industry in Assam in the 1800s.

Digboi, known for one of the world’s oldest operation oil refineries, is said to have derived its name from “dig, boy, dig”, British engineer W.L. Lake’s exhortation to the locals to burrow deeper for crude oil discovered accidentally by elephants in 1867. Some local historians attribute the name to Diboi Nallah, a stream through the oil town.

Another such name is Margherita, a town named by Italian railway engineer Chevalier Roberto Paganini in honour of his country’s queen.

Politics of name-change

Opposition parties said the Chief Minister took a leaf out of his Uttar Pradesh counterpart, Yogi Adityanath’s book to engage in the politics of name-change.

“Every name that was given at a particular time has a history behind it. It has some relevance. The names given may be related to some historical figure or local flavour or even have some funny incident attached to it. I deplore such attempts to change history,” Congress leader Bobeeta Sharma said.

“They [BJP] should concentrate on creating new history by doing some relevant good work for the State and country that will remain etched in the memory of people rather than tamper with what is already existing,” she added.

“They should focus only on fundamental problems the people are facing in daily life during the BJP rule. Changing names is not a fundamental problem these days. If we consider the CM’s logic, how is Deendayal Upadhyaya relevant to the tradition and civilisation of Assam?” said Assam Jatiya Parishad leader Jagadish Bhuyan.