While the Bihar capital’s colonial history refuses to fade from the still popular British names of the city’s roads despite efforts by successive governments, the irony has now staged an unlikely political cameo in the state legislature and begged for introspection.
Bihar’s Legislative Council was on Tuesday briefly seized by a leftover from the previous day’s squabble between chief minister Nitish Kumar and Congress MLC Kumari Jyoti over the colonial hangover. Ms Jyoti and several Congress MLCs had felt insulted by Mr Kumar’s sarcastic reaction on Monday to her reference to the road on which her official residence is located — Sri Krishna Singh Path, still popularly referred to as Taylor Road.
For Mr Kumar, whose JD(U)-BJP government is still excitedly busy observing Bihar’s centenary, Ms Jyoti’s use of the “wrong name” for the road inside the council was an irresistible occasion to scoff at the Congress for its apparent indifference to celebrations of Bihar’s glorious past.
Mr Kumar also reportedly aimed at scoring another point as Sri Krishna Singh, Bihar’s first chief minister, belonged to the upper castes, the influential sections who have been feeling unhappy about Mr Kumar’s rule.
“Where is a road named Taylor Road in Patna? At least I have no knowledge. Does one feel ashamed in saying Sri Krishna Singh Path?” Mr Kumar had said after Ms Jyoti spoke during Zero Hour to complain about certain anti-social people gathering near her residence.
Mr Kumar’s reaction and subsequent advice to the Congress to use the correct names of the roads were described by Congress leaders as another instance of his belittling of serious issues.
Congress leaders were hurt after Mr Kumar said he was shocked to find how people were still unthinkingly using the name of a “British colonial killer and not an Indian leader who contributed so much for the nation’s development”.
In fact, the road was named after then Patna Commissioner William Taylor, who had earned the historical notoriety for sending to the gallows a poor bookbinder, Peer Ali Khan, for secretly distributing nationalist pamphlets among freedom fighters.