New Delhi: Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, BJP MP from Odisha, Sujeet Kumar, called for an urgent review of school textbooks, government documents, and official websites that continue to refer to British Governors-General and Viceroys with the colonial honorific ‘Lord’.
Kumar said he had conducted a random check of NCERT history textbooks for Classes 8 and 12, as well as websites of ministries such as the Ministry of Culture, Press Information Bureau, and Archaeological Survey of India, and found “dozens of references” to figures like Lord Curzon, Lord Mountbatten, and Lord Dalhousie.
He noted that even Raj Bhavan, Bihar’s official portal, had used the term “Lord” to describe colonial administrators.
“It is unfortunate that even after 78 years of Independence, we continue to place these colonial rulers on a pedestal by calling them ‘Lord’, despite their horrendous and barbaric crimes against our people,” Kumar said.
He argued that such usage perpetuates a colonial mindset, undermines social equality, and goes against the spirit of the Constitution.
Drawing parallels with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s renaming of Rajpath to Kartavya Path, Kumar said the move was not merely symbolic but reflected a shift from colonial attitudes to civic responsibility and national pride.
He recalled the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address from the Red Fort, where PM Modi urged citizens to liberate themselves from the “slavery mindset” as part of the vision for Amrit Kaal.
“Why should we continue to glorify titles given by the British to themselves for their imperialistic designs? Our freedom fighters are not referred to with such reverence. A vibrant democracy like ours must shed these remnants of slavery,” Kumar asserted.
His intervention adds to the growing calls for decolonising India’s education system and official discourse, aligning with the government’s broader push to eliminate colonial symbols and promote indigenous narratives.
(IANS)
