Govt nod to rename Mughalsarai railway station as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

The proposal was given by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in a bid to revive the legacy of Upadhyaya, who died in 1968 at the junction itself.

The centre on Friday approved a proposal to rename the Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, a home ministry official said.

The move led to an uproar in Parliament, with SP and BSP leaders protesting the decision to rename the station. (Rajesh Kumar/HT File Photo)

The proposal was given by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in a bid to revive the legacy of Upadhyaya, who died in 1968 at the junction itself.

Minister of state for home affairs Hansraj Ahir cleared the proposal on Friday, the home ministry official said.

The move led to an uproar in Parliament after several MPs including Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Agarwal protested against the Centre’s decision to give nod to renaming the junction after Upadhyay.

The junction, the fourth busiest railway station in the country, is located on the main Howrah-Delhi Grand Chord line. The Uttar Pradesh government, headed by Yogi Adityanath, had in June approved the proposal of renaming the station and forwarded it to the Ministry of Railways for final approval.

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. PTI