Uzbeks shared pictures of the Tashkent metro system after two stations were renamed as part of an anti-Soviet drive
Imagine, as a Monday-morning commuter, that you kept waiting for the announcer to name your metro station... and kept waiting... and waiting...
And then: you realised you had missed your stop, because the station name had changed.
This actually happened last week in Uzbekistan. Disgruntled commuters in the capital Tashkent started expressing bafflement and anger on social media when authorities changed the names of two stops on the Tashkent metro as part of an anti-Soviet renaming campaign.
Some were confused and said they had missed their stop, while others urged the government to concentrate on more important things, such as improving infrastructure.
"You better do something useful rather than renaming the stations," said one Facebook user. "I agree everything should be erased from the earth and be renamed! This way everybody will enjoy 'happy' life!" said another ironic commenter.
Why were the names suddenly changed? It's all about Russian influence and Soviet history. Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov is determined to stamp out all traces of the former Soviet Union, which his country was a part of until the USSR's breakup in 1991.
Karimov, who has ruled the country since independence, has on several occasions criticised the "the old repressive regime" and those who are nostalgic for the Soviet era. In recent months, Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempts to woo Central Asian countries into a new customs union and a defence pact have been largely snubbed by Karimov.
The city government of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, decided to change the name of two metro stations because they were named after national figures who were also pro-Soviet. The stations, named after geologist Habib Abdullaev and the poet Hamza, were changed last week.
But the changes happened without warning - the official announcement coming a day after the switch.
Although many vented their frustration online, others defended the move and criticised the poet Hamza for being a sycophantic follower of Soviet rulers. In Soviet times, the poet led an anti-veil campaign in predominantly Muslim Uzbekistan. "It is good to remove the poet's name, which served as a slogan in the campaign to undress our grandmothers," commented well-known blogger Abu Muslim.
The metro station name changes were only the latest step in what appears to be a grand renaming plan. Authorities previously changed the name of a station which had been dedicated to World War II general Sobir Rahimov, and also removed a monument and renamed a city district which bore his name. In 2011, the president signed a law prohibiting places from being named after individuals - instead place names must refer to their geographical position.
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