ArpitGarg's Weblog

In the past it has happened and in the future it will happen. It is the prerogative of democratically elected Govt. to rename the city just as it is our prerogative to question it. Given the Gurgaon is hub to the current breed of elites who work in MNC’s and earn good money and are social-media savvy, the renaming has been questioned from the comforts of home, via posts on twitter/whatsapp/facebook a lot.

Those opposing say that Gurgaon has been created as global brand and renaming it will hamper that. Also they say that more important is to improve the debilitating public infrastructure. As such I haven’t come across any viewpoints in support of it, maybe those supporting are not that social media active.

There are a few issues here. In the past Madras, Calcutta like European names were replaced with Indian names. But Gurgaon is in itself an Indian name, which has been replaced by another Indian name. So there is no nationalistic fervor behind. There have been few reasons put forward about it being given in guru-dakshina by Pandavas to Dronacharya, hence Gurugram (village of Guru). But meant Gur-gaon. Maybe Guru is more explicit than Gur, but meaning is quite the same.

So what are the pros of renaming?

For one all the issues faced by people of Gurgaon will vanish. In a single move, the entire public infrastructure issues of Gurgaon have been solved. Govt. can claim that no one is unhappy in Gurgaon anymore.

Also Gurgaon had earned a bad name globally for snatching jobs, just like Bangalore. Hence that bad name is gone too. Bangalore did it earlier when it was re-named Bengaluru. Gurgaon has repeated the feat.

It gives Govt. something to do. Or else what will they do? Next election they can say that last time round, they changed the name, next time they will change the city. It is a step by step process.

On a sober note, I don’t see much merit in changing the name, than to quench the ego. Given Gurgaon was also an India name, this change does not even appeal to jingoism, so the chances of gaining political mileage out of it are also slim.

It has been changed and we have to live with it. But it hardly makes a difference to common people, whether it’s Gurgaon or Gurugram. If the Govt. does something to better the roads, public transport, it would be a better thing.