Honoring National Icons: A Call to Put Politics Aside

It has been a strange tradition in Indian politics that whenever the name of a great man is associated with an institution, a road or a big building, political parties try to connect it with their ideology or try to stamp their ideology. This thinking is fundamentally wrong. Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Dr. Ambedkar, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya or Jai Prakash Narayan are the shared pride of the entire nation. So now if the process of operationalizing the International Center (JPNIC) built in Lucknow in the name of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan was started, then it should be seen as a national duty instead of making it a political issue. The real honor of the Lok Nayak will be when that building comes alive, there are conferences, people come and go, national discussions and cultural activities are seen there. His honor is not by hoisting the flag of a political party there. Jai Narayan Prakash's name cannot be made a political hostage. Such is the crime. It is also a shame that JPNIC is spending 200 crores on its unfinished project.