name sign

It has long been clear that India’s ruling dispensation takes the symbolism of names seriously. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi named 21 unnamed islands of Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) after Param Vir Chakra awardees. The largest such island will now be named after Major Somnath Sharma, the first awardee of that gallantry award; The second largest after the second, and so on. Earlier, the renaming of cities, roads, stadiums and other landmarks by the Bharatiya Janata Party had sparked controversy, with the opposition accusing the ruling party of playing divisive politics. This time the possibility of such protest is less visible. As the exercise did not involve the deletion of earlier names, there is no particular reason for objection, and as Indian war heroes have been honoured, it would be foolish to argue that this should not have been done. Ironically, these references are just points on our map. Some islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the North Sentinel being a famous example, are inhabited by aborigines living in complete isolation from the world who view our attempts to establish contact as aggressive. Our policy has been to remain closed. This should continue.