When Honour Becomes Alphabet Soup
India has developed a peculiar habit of giving public institutions, infrastructure and places extraordinarily long official names in the name of honouring historical personalities. Ironically, the practice defeats the very purpose of commemoration.
Districts, towns, colonies, airports, universities, academies, educational institutions, roads, buildings, parks, bus stands and countless other public assets are routinely named after eminent figures using their full names and honorifics, such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi, Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee, Chaudhary Charan Singh, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, P. V. Narasimha Rao, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, Swami Vivekananda, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, and many others.
The outcome is almost always the same. These lengthy names are rarely used in everyday speech and are often ignored even in official communication. Instead, they are reduced to meaningless strings of initials; CSMI, ASR, NSCB, SVPNPA, PVNR, NTR, YSR, IGNOU, KBR, LBSNAA, LNJPNICFS, IGIA and RGIA. Once a name becomes alphabet soup, the connection between the institution and the historical personality disappears. Most people no longer know whom the initials represent. The very objective of naming the institution after that individual, to keep their memory alive in public consciousness, is lost.
A fresh example emerged yesterday, on 1 August 2026. The newly inaugurated international airport at Bhogapuram near Visakhapatnam was named after the legendary freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju, who led one of India's earliest armed freedom struggles against British rule. Within hours, however, it was already being referred to as ASR International Airport. The purpose of the naming had been defeated before the airport even began operations.
Neighbouring Nepal demonstrates a more practical approach. Its principal airport is simply called Tribhuvan International Airport, commemorating King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah with one distinctive name that everyone remembers and uses. India already has successful examples too. Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru honours the city's founder, Nadaprabhu Hiriya Kempegowda, through the single name "Kempegowda", while the Atal Tunnel commemorates former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with a simple, memorable name that has entered everyday vocabulary.
The lesson is obvious: one distinctive name is enough.
Official names should not merely display respect; they should keep the person being honoured alive in everyday public life. Since public infrastructure exists to be used, shorter names are easier to read on signboards, maps, tickets, flight displays, navigation apps and railway announcements. They reduce visual clutter, improve usability and reflect how people actually speak. Citizens instinctively say Shivaji, Netaji, Patel, Indira, Vivekananda or Ambedkar, not lengthy ceremonial titles that eventually degenerate into alphabet soup. Short names are also stronger public brands—easier to remember, pronounce and adopt.
Some historians and administrators argue that full names preserve dignity and prevent ambiguity. Those concerns deserve consideration, but they are outweighed by a simple fact: a commemorative name that almost nobody uses has already failed. Where ambiguity exists, governments can simply adopt the most distinctive and widely recognised part of the person's name, such as:
- Alluri Sitarama Raju → Alluri
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj → Shivaji or Chhatrapati
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose → Netaji or Subhas
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel → Sardar or Patel
- Indira Gandhi → Indira
- Rajiv Gandhi → Rajiv
- Jawaharlal Nehru → Jawahar
- Nandamuri Tarakrama Rao → Nandamuri or Tarakarama
- Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy → Marri or Chenna
- Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi → Gopinath or Bordoloi
- Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee → Ramdass
- Chaudhary Charan Singh → Charan
- Lal Bahadur Shastri → Shastri
- Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar → Ambedkar
- P. V. Narasimha Rao → Narasimha
- Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy → Rajasekhara
- Biju Patnaik → Biju
- Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan → Jayaprakash
- Devi Ahilyabai Holkar → Ahilyabai
- Swami Vivekananda → Vivekananda
The objective is not to diminish respect but to maximise remembrance.
The Central Government and every State Government should undertake a systematic review of all public institutions, infrastructure and places named after historical personalities. Wherever official names have become excessively long and are routinely replaced by acronyms, they should be simplified to a single distinctive name or, where necessary, two words.
Such a reform would preserve dignity while making commemorative names practical, memorable and widely used.
A commemorative name succeeds only when people speak it every day. A name that survives only in government notifications or is reduced to an unintelligible acronym has already failed.
Real honour lies not in the length of a name, but in keeping that name alive in the daily language of the nation. - M. Nageswara Rao
https://x.com/i/status/2083858394923077964
Reverence is born of devotion, not the penal code. Legislating patriotism through prosecution betrays the essence of national pride.
This law fits into a broader, deeply counterproductive pattern: whenever the #PseudoHindutva Sangh Parivar touches any cultural or national issues, it weaponises them. Instead of nurturing genuine reverence, their deracinated heavy-handed intervention routinely alienates citizens and breeds resentment. The latest casualty is Vande Mataram.
Turning a freedom-movement symbol into a jail-backed loyalty test triggers revolt, even among those who respect it. Coercion achieves the opposite of its intent: animosity toward the heritage it claims to protect. - M. Nageswara Rao
https://x.com/i/status/2083029802676781220
A few days ago, I delivered a talk on "Vision and Strategic Leadership" to mid-career academicians at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in Hyderabad.
Over tea after the lecture, a participant approached me with a direct, yet, hypothetical, question: "If you were Education Minister, what single policy measure would you implement to drastically improve the quality of Indian education?"
Without hesitation, I answered, "I would reserve at least 50% of all teaching positions—from primary school to the university level—for Brahmanas."
Taken aback, he said, "But you are a Shudra, not a Brahmana!"
"This isn’t about personal caste identity," I explained. "You asked me how to bring about systemic transformation in education. Civilisationally, the Brahmana identity has been dedicated to learning, scholarship, and teaching for eons. Why shouldn't we tap into that vast, time-tested reservoir of wisdom to elevate our education? Only fools would let go of that enormous pedagogical wealth".
He paused for a moment, silently digesting the thought, before nodding thoughtfully.
True leadership is not about personal identity or divisive politics; it is about leveraging a nation's greatest inherent strengths to solve its toughest challenges. - M. Nageswara Rao
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