Name-changing is not game-changing
“Instead of being a game-changing government, the BJP has turned out to be a name-changing one,” Shashi Tharoor wrote seven years ago in his noteworthy book on Modi, The Paradoxical Prime Minister . Here is a page from Tharoor’s book. The latest naamkaran [religious ceremony of naming a child] ritualised by Modi is that of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which will now be known as Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G). Hey Ram! You’re dragged into this too! The Hindu had reported that the scheme which was meant to guarantee at least some jobs to the rural poor was going to be renamed as Pujya Bapu Gramin Rozgar Yojana. Pujya Bapu was supposed to be Mahatma Gandhi’s bitter enemy and murder-conspirator V D Savarkar. How many deaths must the Mahatma suffer before Modi bids farewell from history altogether? As cartoonist Manjul suggests, perhaps Modi needs to think of changing – not his name – himself. Back i...
