Zoo Station

Salil Tripathi, my co-blogger at the IEB, makes some interesting points in this WSJ Asia op-ed about the renaming controversy in Bangalore, that most cosmopolitan of Indian cities.

For Indian traditionalists, the name change is part of a bigger agenda. Modern businesses have threatened existing order. Software companies hire people on merit; they challenge traditional hierarchies and do not respect barriers of caste, faith or gender. Many women gain independence and feel empowered from working in the services sector. Talented professionals are drawn to Bangalore form all over India. They bring a new lifestyle: Pubs have proliferated, malls have arrived, and a "24-7" work ethic has developed in a city once known as a retirees' haven.

The city's heartbeat, the IT sector, has come under a more direct attack recently at the hands of H.D. Deve Gowda, a former Indian prime minister and leader of the Janata Dal, a political party. Mr. Deve Gowda has unleashed an entirely unsubstantiated assault on the IT industry, terming it elitist and detrimental to the interests of the masses, particularly poor farmers.
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It's reassuring to think that Bangalore by any other name would be just as dynamic. But the cultural chauvinism that drove the decision to change the city's name is alarming, as it threatens to drive away the national talent and international investment that helped make the city what it is today.

I am too removed from local politics in Bangalore to comment, but maybe some of you closer to the ground can comment? Jed? Zem?