Mumbai: What’s in a name? Apparently, political brownie points. The Shiv Sena has, once again, begun playing politics over the renaming of railway stations in the city.
On Monday, Maharashtra’s transport minister, Diwakar Raote, and south Mumbai Member of Parliament Arvind Sawant met home minister Rajnath Singh, asking him to get the names Elphinstone Road and Charni Road stations changed to Prabhadevi and Girgaon respectively .
They also demanded that the word ‘Maharaj’ be added to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station.
The demand for the change of name had been doing the rounds since the name of the station between Goregaon and Jogeshwari was changed to Ram Mandir station. There have also been demands that other stations be renamed too. These include Marine Lines and Grant Road, which some people wanted to be renamed as Sonapur and Gamdevi respectively.
Mr Sawant took to social media on Monday afternoon to speak about his meeting with Mr Singh.
He tweeted, “Met Rajnath Singh with various demands.” A statement by Mr Sawant read, “Met Rajnath Singh, regarding pending demands of renaming stations from the British era, like Elphinstone Road station to Prabhadevi and Charni Road to Girgaon.”
Attempts to contact Mr Sawant and Mr Raote were unsuccessful. However, few days ago after the inauguration of Ram Mandir station, a petition was moved, opposing the renaming of other stations. The petition was titled ‘Leave the station names as it is Mumbai’. It reads, “Yes Britishers left us long back but changing the Mumbai suburban station names is not something a Mumbaikar is looking for. Please leave the station names, as they have been an integral part of our childhood and history. Focus on the improvement of the stations rather than their names.”
