MUMBAI: After Elphinstone Road railway station was recently renamed Prabhadevi on the demand of saffron parties, a dalit outfit named Dalit Youth Panther (DYP) held a protest on Wednesday for Dadar station to be rechristened as “Chaitya Bhoomi”. The DYP warned that if the renaming was not done before December 6 this year, followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who visited the city on the occasion of his death anniversary to pay tribute at Chaitya Bhoomi would not leave Dadar or Mumbai. The outfit further warned that followers would not allow a single train to operate from Dadar station that day.
The DYP submitted its demand to divisional railway managers (DRMs) of Mumbai Central Railway and Mumbai Western Railway on Wednesday. Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar west is a memorial to Dr Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Dr Ambedkar’s death anniversary is observed at Chaitya Bhoomi on December 6 every year.
DYP general secretary and spokesperson Nilesh Mohite said, “The followers’ demands are genuine as Dr Ambedkar was a ‘Vishwaratna’ and ‘Vishwabhushan’. Pakis-tan has also recognised him as the ‘symbol of knowledge’ and in our country, despite demands for 20 years to rename Dadar station, the authorities and government have failed to do so.”
