The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay for directing the Union government to set up a ‘renaming commission’ to find out and restore the original names of historical, cultural and religious places which were changed by foreign invaders.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna questioned the motive of the PIL filed by Upadhyay, saying it will bring alive those issues, “which would keep the country on the boil”.
“Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life… Hinduism is a way of life and there is no bigotry in Hinduism…don’t dig up the past which will only create disharmony…can’t have the country on the boil,” Justice KM Joseph told Upadhyay.
Upadhyay had earlier this month filed the PIL, seeking a direction to the Union to constitute a ‘renaming commission’ to restore the “original” names of ancient historical, cultural and religious places which were “renamed” by foreign invaders.
While Mughal Garden was recently renamed Amrit Udyan, the government did nothing to rename the roads named after invaders, the PIL said and contended that the continuation of these names is against the sovereignty and other civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The PIL said alternatively, the court may direct the Archaeological Survey of India to research and publish the initial names of ancient historical and cultural religious places, which were renamed by “barbaric foreign invaders” to secure the Right to Information under the Constitution.
The PIL said, “We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of independence but there are many ancient historical cultural religious places in the name of brutal foreign invaders, their servants and family members”.
“India is a secular country, this is a secular forum. We are supposed to protect Constitution and all sections. You want to reagitate things which should be buried and not create disaffection,” the court told Upadhyay.
“Hinduism is a way of life because of that India has assimilated everybody. Because of that, we are able to live together.
Divide and rule policy of the British brought about schism in our society. Let us not be that back,” Justice BV Nagarathna told Upadhyay.
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay an active member of the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement was one of the founder members of the newly launched Aam Aadmi party in November 2012 following the Janlokpal movement.
In March 2014, he sent a list of questions to party chief Arvind Kejriwal seeking clarity on several issues of concern including ticket distribution and funding from Ford foundation.
In April 2014, he accused Kejriwal of diverting from the ‘real issues’ and forming a secret alliance with the Congress party while positing to be rival to them publicly.
Upadhyay also claimed people close to Ford foundation were given election tickets. He even went on to accuse Kejriwal of being a CIA agent.
AAP denied the allegations and expelled Upadhyay over involvement in anti party activities.
Subsequently, in November 2014, he joined the BJP along with several other AAP members.
Upadhyay cited the influence of PM Narendra Modi and his vision for the nation as the reason for joining the BJP. In 2016, he wrote a letter to Delhi CM to ban the sale of alcohol in the state.
Upadhyay has been actively pursuing the cause of population control legislation for which he has met several BJP and RSS leaders explaining that no constitutional amendment was required for introducing the population control bill
Divide and rule policy of the British brought about schism in our society. Let us not be that back,” Justice BV Nagarathna told Upadhyay.
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay an active member of the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement was one of the founder members of the newly launched Aam Aadmi party in November 2012 following the Janlokpal movement.
In March 2014, he sent a list of questions to party chief Arvind Kejriwal seeking clarity on several issues of concern including ticket distribution and funding from Ford foundation.
In April 2014, he accused Kejriwal of diverting from the ‘real issues’ and forming a secret alliance with the Congress party while positing to be rival to them publicly.
Upadhyay also claimed people close to Ford foundation were given election tickets. He even went on to accuse Kejriwal of being a CIA agent.
