Editor,
The recent renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh has been welcomed by many across India. But as someone from Arunachal, I cannot pretend that it sits comfortably with me.
I want to be clear about one thing. I have never questioned Arunachal being a part of India. It is. My concern is about something else: why should affirming our place within India mean replacing the names that have belonged to our people for generations?
A place name is not just a name on a map. It carries our history, our language, our memories and our connection to the land. So when indigenous names are replaced with Hindi names, it is hard not to ask: are our own names somehow not Indian enough?
We often talk about India's 'unity in diversity'. But diversity cannot mean celebrating different cultures only when it is convenient. People should be able to be proudly Indian without having to give up the languages, names and traditions that make them who they are.
This is also why the comparison with China's renaming of places makes me uncomfortable. We rightly object when China imposes names and narratives on places with indigenous identities. Shouldn't the same principle apply here? If the people whose history is tied to these places have no say in changing their names, what exactly are we defending when we say we respect indigenous identity?
I am not making an argument against India. Quite the opposite. I believe Arunachal can be proudly Indian and proudly indigenous. These two identities do not have to compete with each other.
What worries me is that indigenous identity does not disappear all at once. It happens slowly. A name is changed here, a language becomes less common there, traditions gradually lose space. Each change may seem small on its own. But over time, they can add up to something much bigger.
As someone who calls Arunachal home, I fear that we may one day look back and realise that we allowed parts of our identity to disappear without even noticing.
India's unity should give us the space to preserve our differences, not make us feel that we have to erase them.
A concerned native of Arunachal
