BJP MP Demands Removal of “Lord” Title, Calls It a Colonial Mindset After 75 Years

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar on Friday demanded the immediate removal of the honorific “Lord” when referring to British viceroys and governor-generals in Indian school textbooks, NCERT publications, government documents, and official websites, calling the continued usage a “colonial hangover” that contradicts the spirit of an independent India. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Kumar argued that 78 years after independence, it is unacceptable to place colonial administrators—who committed “horrendous and barbaric crimes” against Indians—on a “demigod-like pedestal” while freedom fighters receive no such reverence.

The MP cited examples from NCERT history books for Classes 8 and 12 that still refer to Lord Curzon, Lord Mountbatten, Lord Dalhousie, and Lord Linlithgow, and pointed out that websites of the Ministry of Culture, Press Information Bureau, Archaeological Survey of India, and even Bihar’s renamed Lok Bhavan continue the practice. “This was a title given by the British to the British for British imperialistic designs and to promote a false narrative of racial superiority,” Kumar said, questioning why a sovereign democratic republic should perpetuate such symbols.

He linked his demand to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Panch Pran pledge on Independence Day 2022, particularly the second resolve of eliminating every trace of a “slavery mindset” by 2047. Kumar praised the renaming of Rajpath to Kartavya Path as a symbolic yet powerful step in the same direction and urged similar decolonisation of language in education and official records.

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The call has sparked immediate debate, with several MPs across parties supporting the sentiment during the session. Education Ministry sources indicated that a review of NCERT textbooks and government portals has been initiated in light of the concerns raised.

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