PM Modi faces calls to rename road named after Turkey's founding father

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Posted by NewAdmin on 2025-05-20 09:20:33 |

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Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is facing increasing pressure to rename a road named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. The calls come amid strained relations between India and Turkey under Modi's leadership. India and Turkey have been growing apart, and most recently, the situation has been likened to a breakdown in political and diplomatic relations. Former diplomats suggest that the road name controversy highlights the strained nature of relations, which have been exacerbated by Modi's nationalist agenda. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a trade body that promotes the interests of traders and small businesses in India, has written a letter to Modi asking him to rename the road to "reflect national sentiment." The CAIT believes that Ataturk was responsible for the suppression of Indians and other minorities when he implemented his secularization program in the 1930s. They cite the 1933 Thrace incident, in which thousands of Muslims were killed as a result of Ataturk's policies.

Despite calls for the renaming of the road, historians argue that there is little evidence of Ataturk personally overseeing or endorsing the killings, though he did introduce the secularization policy that indirectly led to the violence. The naming controversy has ignited anger amongst Indians, particularly those within the trader community, and they now hope that PM Modi will consider their plea to rename the road to reflect "national sentiment."

The incident serves as a reminder of the increasing polarization of India under Modi's leadership, and his perceived failure to unite the country's diverse religious and cultural groups. It remains to be seen whether the call to rename the road will succeed, but one thing is certain: this diplomatic tiff is only going to exacerbate the already strained relationship between India and Turkey. `` Turkey is a great nation and Ataturk was its founding father. But Indians, particularly the traders, are on the verge of revolt against the Modi government's anti-trader policies and they want to send a strong message to the government through this demand.''

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