It is without doubt Telangana’s most famous icon. In one stylish sweep it brushed aside the rather archaic Charminar and by being counted amongst the best in the world it placed Hyderabad on the map better than any other representative figure.

Why it was called Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the first place, only the wily brain of the late Dr. YS Rajasekhar Reddy can explain. In his strategic tribute to Party Chief Sonia Gandhi he wrested from her an independence enjoyed by hardly another Congress Chief Minister in the history of independent India.

But now, there is a sudden move to undo this naming. Almost as if they want to erase any sign of the Congress and its sponsored sycophancy, the pressure is on to rename the airport…and possibly as the weeks go by, other icons and monuments as well.

And that is where I have a problem.

Kennedy has remained Kennedy. De Gaulle has remained De Gaulle. Oh come one, there is a practice in place. Can’t we let it be?

First of all this constant renaming according to the political climate seems to me a rather childish waste of time. I am sure more icons will be built and leaders and politicians who have been ignored earlier will soon have a chance to have a station, a playground, a stadium or a slaughterhouse named after them. Knee Jerk reactions like renaming international airports are sure to make us the laughing stock of the world.

If at all you want to rename the airport, can we, at least now, in the shadow of an ostensibly more mature and rational government examine the qualifications of the person after whom the airport is supposed to be named.

NTR seems to be the current favourite. NTR!!!

While he is perhaps a Chief Minister who revived the twirling moustache concept of Telugu Pride, he had nothing substantial to do with the development of the airport…and really nothing significant to do with the progress/development of the state itself.

If any body can be given that recognition it is only Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the Hi-Tec Chief Minister of Consolidated Andhra Pradesh who spent half his life as a Chief Minister and another half as an Opposition Leader, and now embarks on a new chapter as the Chief Minister of Seemandhra.

The Hyderabad International AIrport is definitely his brain child and if it were to be named after him I would accept it as a fitting tribute. But NTR?

He is the closest thing to a joke book that the history of Andhra Pradesh wrote. The man who singlehandedly destroyed all signs of protocol, eliminated courtesies, introduced macabre schemes and populist systems and did everything possible to drive the state into disaster.

Plus…and this is very relevant in the present scenario. He was an out and out Andhra Man. Now how will it look…the first thing Telangana does after the state is formed…is to rename its brightest icon after an out of state person.

How it will look I say?

Why not name it after a prominent Telangana Agitation Leader. Mallikarjun for instance. Or the loveable poet from Telangana. Gadar. For heaven’s sake why not KCR. He is after all the Telangana equivalent of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

All I am saying is that let there be some logic and dignity in this whole renaming game. Let not names be like footballs…being kicked around by all and sundry. Let there be a protocol.

Otherwise I am afraid a few years from now, if KCR dies, as he is sure to sometime or the other…and his son or daughter or son in law or nephew is in power, the naming issue is sure to crop up again. So why wait till the confusion starts off again? Let’s name the Airport now.

KCR International sounds nice…even if it sounds like a shady bar. But it maybe better than what I am scared we are headed towards…MIM Charminar, Janardhan Reddy Peddamma Gudi, Chenna Reddy Safilguda, Vengal Rao Tank Bund, Geetha Reddy Monda Market…and so on.

Think about it.