It's Official!
On the 1st of January 2001, the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya announced that the State Capital 'Calcutta' has been officially renamed 'Kolkata'. Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said that all official communications would now carry the new name - with effect from January 1, 2001. Earlier, the CM, reacting to the Central Government's decision to accept the State's proposal to rename Calcutta, greeted the residents of the city, saying: "Kolkata has returned to Kolkata!"
Who Needs A New Name?
Looks like it had become essential to rename the city! But why? Just to emphasize its ethnic Bengali character? Who wants a new name for a city that's virtually dead from the development point of view? Surely, not the residents, who still love to be addressed as 'Calcuttans'. It's the politicians, who want to pass this off as a demand from the intellectuals. Even Mayor Subrata Mukherjee, who belongs to the opposition was quoted as commenting: "We wanted a change in the name of the city in line with the new names of Bombay and Madras long ago."
At the helm of the intelligentsia who supported the name change is the poet Sunil Gangopadhyay who also hoped the state would be renamed 'Paschim Banga'. He wants the Mayor to ensure that at least a third of the signboards in the city be rewritten in Bengali. He says it "fuels our Bengali pride", and the renaming "makes us feel that the city belongs to Bengalis". Moreover, he questions, why should the colonial hangover linger?
What's the Problem With 'Calcutta'?
The West Bengal Chief Minister claims to have "rendered justice to history" by dumping Calcutta's 'colonial name'. But escaping from the vestiges of British legacy is a daunting task, even for the CM himself. Like most of the city's buildings, the CM's office in Writers' Building was built by the British! And can anybody think of the city sans the Howrah Bridge or Victoria Memorial or Fort William?
Can You Escape From the British Legacy?
From the judicial system to English medium schools, everything here still bears the British odour. People still like to keep their Anglicized surnames - Ray, Paul, Mitter, Bannerjee, Chatterjee and so on. Now the world will refer to Calcuttans as 'Kolkatans' - yet another anglicized derivation from Kolkata!
Calcuttans, who have prided themselves as being different from inhabitants of other cities, and free from all kinds of bias, would now become indistinguishable from Bal Thackeray's Mumbai and Jayalalitha's Chennai. Now, the Left Front should also do something about streets and places named after Marx, Lenin and Ho Chi Minh, they suggest.
Hardly a Problem!
Will this name change do any good to Calcuttans? Bengali has recently replaced English as the official State language. It's full implementation and results are yet to be seen. Many still feel the British contributed to the modernization of this nation and gave them their political institutions.
Not the colonial legacy but the state's economic and cultural decline over the past two decades is what Calcuttans are ashamed of. So the residents want the ruling Communist Party to change the work culture and administration instead of changing names and rewriting signboards. They argue, a Marxist government should be concerned with socio-economic problems, and re-christening a city or a state is hardly a problem.
Can unnecessary work solve unemployment problem? Just think of the number of signboards to be repainted, letterheads to be reprinted, plus a host of other changes, and you'll get the answer. As if the loss of man-hours in strikes, traffic jams and political campaigns weren't enough for the city.
Distraction Strategy?
If one has to go by the mass consensus, this name game is nothing but the Left Front Government's way of distracting the public from the task of ensuring social welfare. People can't be won over by gimmicks and rhetorical gloss, and this cosmetic change can't bedazzle their jaded eyes. There is hardly any tangible benefit from this "freedom from the colonial hangover". Grave problems of the people - poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, overpopulation, etc., need to be taken care of. May the decision makers get the courage to begin afresh with this brand new name!
How 'Calcutta' Turned 'Kolkata'!
The first mention of 'Calcutta' is to be found in a letter dated June 22, 1688 by Charles Eyre and Rogger Braddyll to the British East India Company's agent Job Charnock. The world knew the city as 'Calcutta', whereas Bengalis pronounced it 'Kolkata'.
The Proposal
The State Government had recommended to the Central Government an all-party resolution adopted by the State Assembly in July, 2000 to change the name of Calcutta. The State Cabinet too in its meeting held on August 3, 2000 decided so. On August 24, 2000, Calcutta celebrated its 310th birthday against the backdrop of persisting debates over changing its name.
Before making any change in the names of villages or towns, State Governments are required to send the proposals with due justification to the Home Ministry for consideration. The approval for renaming the State Capital in all languages was officially sought by the State Chief Secretary Manish Gupta on November 15, 2000. In a letter to the Home Secretary, he had stated that the Assembly, "following a motion under rule 185 of their Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, adopted a resolution to rename the State of West Bengal as Bangla and the city of Calcutta as Kolkata".
The Red Signal
On December 9, 2000, the Indian Government reminded the West Bengal Government that it is not desirable to change the name unless there are very special reasons to do so, and that "a change should not be made merely on grounds of local patriotism or for linguistic reasons". The Union Home Ministry also asked the State Government to give detailed reasons for proposing the change in the name of the city and sought the reasons for selection of the proposed name 'Kolkata' for Calcutta.
Further, it requested the West Bengal Chief Secretary to furnish a detailed report on related issues: The period for which the present name Calcutta has been figuring in the local or revenue records, and whether the proposed change would necessitate any corresponding change in the name of the two railway stations - Sealdah and Howrah - serving the city.
The Green Signal
The Indian Government on December 23, 2000, gave green signal to West Bengal Government's proposal to rename Calcutta as 'Kolkata'. "The Government of India have, after careful consideration, accepted the proposal of the State Government of West Bengal to change the name of the city of 'Calcutta' to 'Kolkata'," an official release said. Thus Calcutta became the third Indian metropolis to get a new name. And Calcutta became Kolkata.
If only a new name could save the metropolis from being dubbed as a 'dying city'. God bless Kolkata and its wonderful people!
Comments & Reactions: 'Quote-Unquote'
The decision to change Calcutta's nomenclature has attracted both bouquets and brickbats from writers, poets, artistes and the intelligentsia. Here's a sampling:
"I wonder what Bengali culture will stand to gain by rechristening the metropolis Kolkata. The heavens wouldn't have fallen had the city's name remained Calcutta...I don't know whether regionalism has outweighed cultural considerations or it is the other way around. We can see an assertive cultural movement here, which speaks about making it mandatory to paint signboards in Bengali. Will it help us to integrate with the world? I'm not sure.''
~ Mrinal Sen, Film-maker
"I'm vehemently opposed to the decision which will make a mockery of the history behind Calcutta's name. You can pronounce the name of the city differently, but how can you change the spelling which has evolved over a period of time? Besides, phonetically and linguistically Kolkata and Calcutta go hand in hand."
~ Ananda Shankar Roy, Litterateur
"It has been a long-standing demand of intellectuals of the metropolis. They have been clamouring for a change in Calcutta's nomenclature."
~ Sunil Gangopadhyay, Poet-Novelist
"It is a welcome decision albeit long overdue. You can call the decision a fulfillment of our dreams and aspirations."
~ Buddhadeb Guha, Novelist
"We wanted a change. But what will happen to the names of our venerable institutions? Will the Calcutta University be renamed Kolkata University or Calcutta High Court as Kolkata High Court from now?"
~ Mahasweta Devi, Magsaysay Award Winning Writer & Activist
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