“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” This is Juliet’s line when she is telling Romeo that a name is nothing but a name and it is hence a convention with no meaning behind it. William Shakespeare uses this line in his play Romeo and Juliet to convey that the naming of things is irrelevant. Unfortunately, we are now long past the Shakespearean era and we will have to disagree with William Shakespeare. Well, at least on this one.
The politics of name changing in India today is very real. Across India, in most BJP-ruled states, governments are changing names of cities, streets and railway stations, stripping hundreds of years of history to “reclaim Indian culture and heritage.” Or editing history. Soon after the BJP-led government came to power in 2014, ‘ghar wapsi’ dominated the political discourse and now it has veered towards ‘naam wapsi’. While changing the names of Indian cities may not really affect us in this corner of the world, the reason – raison d’étre – behind it sure does. The intent is definitely political. Both ‘ghar wapsi’ and ‘naam wapsi’ are political ploys to pit ‘Hindu pride’ to win elections by the BJP. The point here is that there is a lot in a name.
Closer to home, a cursory look at the names of the ten state assembly constituencies the fall under Mokokchung district reveals one of them is at odds with the rest – 23 Impur Assembly Constituency. It is a prestigious assembly constituency, no doubt, the home of the first chief minister of Nagaland state. In a hypothetical scenario, suppose a BJP candidate is elected from Impur assembly constituency tomorrow, would it make any difference to how people perceive Impur mission center? It does sound preposterous at this juncture but to irresponsibly banalize words and names are the forte of some people in politics – something that is not strange in politics. It is in fact an increasingly used populist resource. The connotation of the word ‘Impur’ is known to all and, therefore, to change the name of the place is not necessary. However, is it possible to change the name of the assembly constituency then? Most importantly, is it now time to give a thought on changing the name of Impur Assembly Constituency? Is Shakespeare right or wrong?