The Prime Minister’s residential address has changed from 7 Race Course Road to 7 lok Kalyan Marg as the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Wednesday approved the renaming of the iconic British-era road in posh lutyens’ Delhi — a move that was first floated by BJP MP Meenakshi lekhi, albeit a different name “Ekatma Marg.
Following the decision by the NDMC in a meeting chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a notification will be issued soon in this regard.
Days ago, BJP MP Meenakshi lekhi had written to the NDMC, suggesting the name of the road on which the PM lives should be changed to “match the Indian culture”.
lekhi had actually proposed to rename the Race Course Road as Ekatma Marg, based on the philosophy of the BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay. In the meeting, Kejriwal proposed to rename the Race Course Road after Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru, but some members were not convinced.
AAP MlA and NDMC member Commando Surendra Singh has also proposed to rename the Race Course Road after Flight lieutenant (late) Nirmaljeet Singh Shekhon.
“I had proposed renaming of the road after Guru Govind Singh while lekhi said it should be renamed as Ekatma Marg. I suggested that the Prime Minister should be consulted on this but the Council members decided that on the basis of suggestions received from public, the road should be renamed as lok Kalyan Marg,” Kejriwal said.
last year, the renaming of Aurangzeb Road, which is also not far from the Race Course road, after former president APJ Abdul Kalam, had attracted criticism from a of historians.
NDMC chairperson Naresh Kumar said it was a unanimous decision. The British-era Race Course Road was named after the Delhi race course, part of the Delhi Race Club, which was established in 1940.
Also, the NDMC has decided to rename the Gurudwara Rakabganj round-about adjacent to Parliament complex as Guru Gobind Singh Chowk following representations from various Sikh organisations.