Tuesday, April 23, 2019

India's BJP Renaming Towns with Muslim Names, NPR

India's major political party, the BJP, is renaming towns with Muslim names, like Allahabad, which dates to the 16th century, when Mughals first conquered northern India.

The story, which comes from NPR, reminds us of other name changes like Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai, and Calcutta to Kolkata.

This might be an interesting story for students to see how history impacts current events in India and even to debate the case for changing the names. Does India have an obligation to its Mughal past and is the Modi government trying to change history?
 

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