Modi renames Delhi's 'Kingsway' as 'Kartavya Path', continues to shed India's colonial baggage

The Narendra Modi government on Monday (5) got rid of yet another colonial 'burden' by deciding to rename the 'Rajpath' and Central Vista lawns in New Delhi as 'Kartavya Path' (Path of Duty). The 'Rajpath' was nearly a Hindi translation of the road which was named by the former British rulers as 'Kingsway'.

The renaming is one of the many steps that the Modi government has taken to erase traits of the country's colonial legacy in the national capital and elsewhere.

First, the government renamed the Race Couse Road, the road where the prime minister's residence is located, as Lok Kalyan Marg. Thereafter, it unveiled a hologram statue of the legendary hero of India's freedom struggle Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at the India Gate in the capital. Soon, his statue would come up in the canopy where a statue of King George V was located till 1968.

Last week, Modi also unveiled a new ensign of the Indian Navy during the commissioning of IAC Vikrant, the country's first indigenous aircraft-carrier ship, dropping St George's Cross from it.

In his recent speech made on August 15 to mark 75 years of India's Independence, the prime minister stressed on the abolition of symbols that are related to the colonial legacy.

“We have to give up the colonial-era mentality. Instead, we must rely on our capabilities,” Modi had said.

News18 reported citing sources in the government saying that naming the elite road in the national capital as 'Kartavya Path' is a message to the ruling class that the era of rulers of subjects is behind us. The 'Kingsway' was named by the British to honour George V, who was the emperor of India.

“During Republic Day in 2022, the Beating Retreat Ceremony’s concluding piece ‘Abide With Me’ was replaced with Kavi Pradeep’s seminal piece ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon’ sung by legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. Earlier in 2015, the Beating Retreat saw some major changes wherein Indian musical instruments such as sitar, santoor, and tabla were added to the music ensemble for the first time. The retreat was thus infused with an Indian flavour,” the government sources said.

They also said that the Modi government has made its intention evident through other steps as well. It, for example, has repealed more than 1,500 old and obsolete laws that were mostly remnants of the colonial era. It also set February 1 as the new date of presenting the central government's budget, deviating from the colonial-era practice of doing it on the last working day of February and merging the railway budget with the general budget.

“PM Modi has been a proponent of teaching in mother tongue, as reflected in NEP 2020. This is a marked departure from the focus mainly on English-based education, the wheels of which were set in motion during the British era,” News18 cited the government sources as saying.