The road connecting India’s presidential residence to India Gate has now carried three different names across less than a century, each reflecting a different political moment. This article covers that history and what the 2022 renaming was specifically meant to signal.
Three Names, Three Eras
The road’s naming history traces a fairly direct line through modern Indian political history. Under British colonial rule, it was named “Kingsway,” a name that plainly reflected imperial authority. Following independence in 1947, it was renamed “Rajpath,” meaning “Path of the State” or “King’s Way” in a more Indianised form, a change intended to symbolically transfer the road’s association from British colonial authority to India’s own new sovereignty. In September 2022, the government renamed it again, this time to “Kartavya Path,” meaning “Path of Duty.”
What the Government Said the New Name Meant
According to coverage of the renaming, the government’s stated rationale centred the new name specifically on themes of “duty, devotion and sacrifice,” with officials framing the change as intended to promote a sense of “public ownership, empowerment and freedom” among citizens using the space, a deliberate shift in emphasis from the earlier name’s association with state authority and governance toward a message centred on citizens’ own responsibilities and role in national life.
More Than Just a New Sign
The renaming accompanied a broader physical redevelopment of the avenue itself, part of the larger Central Vista redevelopment project, including upgraded security infrastructure, new drinking water facilities and public toilets, updated signage, evening light and sound displays, and food vendor spaces representing different Indian regional cuisines, meaning the change involved substantial public infrastructure investment alongside the symbolic renaming rather than being a purely nominal gesture.
Why Some Questioned the Change
Not every response to the renaming was positive. Scroll.in’s commentary on the decision specifically raised a pointed question about whether “Kartavya Path” would achieve the same broad, cross-political consensus status that “Rajpath” had held for over seven decades, arguing the older name had become such an established, largely uncontested part of the national landscape that its replacement, whatever its stated symbolic intent, would need considerable time to earn similar unifying recognition. Some critics also questioned the practical necessity and expense of renaming and redeveloping a road more than 75 years after independence, when the original post-colonial renaming to Rajpath had already accomplished the basic symbolic task of moving past the colonial-era name.
Part of a Broader Renaming Pattern
The Rajpath renaming wasn’t an isolated decision. It fits within a broader pattern across Modi’s tenure of renaming colonial-era place names, streets, and, in some cases, cities and islands, a pattern the government has consistently framed as part of a deliberate effort to remove remaining symbols of colonial rule from India’s public spaces, a rationale that has itself drawn a mixed response, with supporters viewing it as overdue decolonisation and critics questioning the practical value and cost of renaming well-established places relative to other government priorities.
Other Examples From the Same Pattern
The Kartavya Path change sits alongside several other prominent renamings during Modi’s tenure that followed a similar logic, including the renaming of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ Ross Island to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep in 2018, and the renaming of Neil and Havelock Islands, both named after British colonial-era figures, to Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep respectively, honouring Indian independence themes instead. Viewed together, these changes suggest the Kartavya Path renaming was one instance of a broader, deliberate government project rather than an isolated decision specific to New Delhi’s ceremonial avenue.
Comparing India’s Approach to Other Post-Colonial Nations
India’s pattern of renaming colonial-era streets, monuments, and places is not unique among former colonies; many post-colonial nations have gone through similar renaming waves at various points after independence, from African nations renaming colonial-era cities to other South Asian countries revisiting street names tied to imperial administrators. What distinguishes India’s recent wave under Modi’s government is less the practice itself, well precedented globally, than its timing, occurring more than seven decades after independence rather than in the immediate post-independence period most other nations’ comparable renaming waves took place in, which is part of why some commentators specifically questioned the practical urgency of this particular round of changes.
The Republic Day Connection
The renamed avenue continues to serve its most prominent historical function unchanged: it remains the central route for India’s annual Republic Day parade every January 26, meaning the renaming took effect on a stretch of road that receives its highest annual public and international visibility during that specific yearly event, giving the new name recurring, high-profile exposure each year that a less prominent street renaming elsewhere in the country would not have received.
Bottom Line
The renaming from Rajpath to Kartavya Path in September 2022 continued a longer pattern of the same road’s name reflecting shifting political symbolism, from colonial “Kingsway” to post-independence “Rajpath” to a 2022 name explicitly centred on citizen duty, a change accompanied by substantial physical redevelopment and framed by the government as a deliberate values statement, even as critics questioned whether the new name would earn the same broad consensus status the old one had held for generations.
Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available government records and news reports listed below. It is written for general informational purposes and does not represent an official statement from the Government of India or the Central Public Works Department.
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