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Ahmedabad should be renamed Karnavati, says Subramanian Swamy

“Ahmedabad’s name should also be Karnavati. Its name should be changed to Karnavati. A few years ago, the then chief minister had written to the then central government that it should be called Karnavati. But the Prime Minister declined it," Swamy said.
Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday once again sparked off a fresh debate for changing the name of Ahmedabad city to Karnavati. Addressing the gathering on the second day of the two-day Youth Parliament 2018 event at Karnavati University, Swamy began his address by referring to the demand as he called off the University’s name and welcomed its students.

“Ahmedabad’s name should also be Karnavati. Its name should be changed to Karnavati. A few years ago, the then chief minister had written to the then central government that it should be called Karnavati. But the Prime Minister declined it. But the chief minister at that time is the Prime Minister today. So, at least now he should do that at the earliest,” Subramanian Swamy started off his address.

He opened the first session ’employment and entrepreneurship’ on the final day. Other speakers were Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi, father of telecom revolution Dr Satyanarayan ‘Sam’ Pitroda and former Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Natarajan.

Swamy had raised a similar demand a year back when he was in Vadodara to attend an event organised by Bharat Vikas Parishad. He recalled his connection with Ahmedabad and called himself a “son-in-law” of Gujarat as he is married to a Parsi. “I am the son-in-law of Gujarat. My wife is a Parsi. My father was a chief secretary here when Gujarat was separated from Maharashtra. I have studied in Ahmedabad,” said Swamy, establishing a connection with the state.

Talking about employment and entrepreneurship, Swamy said, “As per surveys, only 5 per cent population is unemployed. But among the remaining 95 per cent employed, they are employed only for 2-3 working hours, working at minimum wages, underemployed. Looking from that perspective there is a huge unemployment in our country.”

The reason behind it is that after independence, we followed the Soviet Russia model which was to extract resources from agriculture and put these to develop industries. For 40 years this model went on till 1990, he added.

Referring to the growing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that has failed to create subsequent jobs, he said, “The Narasimha Rao government that came to power broke the Russia model. The GDP has increased significantly and at a fast pace but there was a jobless growth which still continues. The Prime Minister is trying at the micro level, for that we should have micro-level policies too.”

Urging the youth not to hesitate in launching their own entrepreneurship, rather than running after menial jobs, he said, “I visit several business schools where I ask students what would they prefer after they complete graduation – a job or start their own entrepreneurship like Microsoft or other successful industries, which involves taking loans and offer jobs to others as well. All business school students want to get jobs at multinational companies. This is the kind of mindset we have today. We lack desire in our country. Let us motivate them to stand on their feet and provide jobs to others. A nation’s growth happens when we take to innovation. The DNA of all Indians is the same from Jamnagar to Dibrugarh and Kashmir to Kanyakumari.”

“There is no difference in male and female and neither this is our culture. Even if we see our ancient history in Brahma’s cabinet all major portfolios were with the women. Education with Saraswati (Goddess) and similarly defence with Durga and finance with Laxmi. What a male had was only information and broadcasting held by Narad Muni. So this is our tradition,” he added.