The Rajya Sabha saw din for a brief period on Friday over the issue of renaming Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh as Deen Dayal Upadhayay station with the Opposition charging the Government with trying to change the character of the country. Members of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which raised the issue, stormed into the well of the House forcing a 10 minute adjournment during the pre-lunch session.
Flagging the issue during the Zero Hour, Naresh Agrawal (SP) said the Government was trying to change character of the country by renaming iconic railway stations while his party colleagues questioned the contribution of persons who made no contribution to the freedom struggle.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the name of Victoria Terminus station in Mumbai was also changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He also said while the Opposition parties have no objection to Mughal names but cannot tolerate the name of a great thinker.
However, the SP members, along with other Opposition parties, continued to raise a ruckus and after a while SP members came into the well shouting slogans. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien adjourned the proceedings for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Central Government on Friday approved the proposal to rename Mughalsarai railway junction, Home Ministry officials said here. The UP Government had in June approved the proposal to name the State after the RSS ideologue and forwarded it to the Railway Ministry for approval.
Upadhyay’s body was found under mysterious circumstances on a platform of Mughalsarai in 1968.
The station contains the largest railway marshaling yard in Asia. It is 12.5 km long and handles around 1,500 wagons daily. The largest wagon repair workshop of the Indian Railways is also located here.
Among other issues to figure in the Upper House included a demand for installing a statue of Rabindranath Tagore at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. Raising the issue, Ritabrata Banerjee (CPM) said that Tagore had renounced knighthood, conferred by the British in 1915, after the 1919 massacre.
Banerjee said installation of a statue of Tagore and prominent display of the letter of renouncement of knighthood will be a mark of respect to him. He also said the Assam Government has cancelled the holiday in schools and colleges on the birthday of Tagore.
Congress leader Rajeev Shukla registered his objection over External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement on Thursday in the House criticizing him for backing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Shukla said he had never advocated India giving a go-ahead to that plan during his speech during the debate on India’s foreign policy. Kurien said he will go through the records and take necessary steps.