The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on BJP leader and Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay for filing a petition seeking to rename historical places, which the petitioner alleged have been named after foreign barbaric invaders.
The bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna asked Upadyay if he wanted to Keep the country on the boil by filing such petitions.
“Yout want to keep this as a live issue and keep the country on a boil? Fingers are pointed at a particular community. you run down a particular section of society. India is a secular state this is a secular forum” Justice Joseph 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 British brought about schism in our society. Let us not bring that back, Justice Nagarathna also expressed disapproval of the petition.
Upadhyay submitted many historical places mentioned in Vedas and Puranas are now named after foreign looters.
Justice Joseph said that Hinduism has a great tradition and it should not be belittled.
Hinduism is the greatest religion in terms of metaphysics. the heights which hinduism have in Upanishads, Vedas, Bhagvat Gita an unequal in any syste, we should be proud of that. Please don’t belittle it. We have to understand our own greatness. our greatness should lead us to be magnanimous. I am a Christian. But I am equally fond of Hinduism. I am trying to study it. You read the works of Dr. S Radhakrishan on Hindu Philosphy”, Justice Joseph said.
The petitioner had sought the setting up of a renaming commission and sought a direction to the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct research and publish the initiatl names of ancient historical cultural religious places which were renamed by barbaric foreign invaders.
