Dadar station to be named after Karkare or Ambedkar?

Renaming Dadar railway station seems to be latest debate in political circles. The options doing the rounds are Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar station and Shahid Hemant Karkare station.

Renaming Dadar railway station seems to be latest debate in political circles. The options doing the rounds are Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar station and Shahid Hemant Karkare station.

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While the Republican Party of India (RPI) has demanded that Dadar station be renamed as Chaityabhoomi, former railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party wants the station to be renamed as Dr Ambedkar station.

Rashtriya Aman Sena, an NGO, has started an email and signature campaign to rename Dadar station as Shahid Hemant Karkare station after the IPS officer who died during the 26/11 terror attack.

Abdul Bari, founder president of Rashtriya Aman Sena said: “Karkare was a resident of Dadar. We have asked Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to consider our request. We will be launching a campaign at the year-end. It will be inspiring for the Mumbai police too, if the station gets Karkare’s name.”

Paswan’s supporters have pasted stickers on the name boards at Dadar station.

“We have asked the government to reconsider the demand and rename Dadar after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” a Lok Janshakti Party leader said.

Local rail officials refused to comment saying these decisions were taken at the ministry level. They added that there were several such demands pending.

Renaming stations in Mumbai is not new.

In 1997, Paswan told Chief Minister Manohar Joshi that renaming Dadar would be “a homage to B. R. Ambedkar.”

A year earlier on March 4, 1996, railway minister Suresh Kalmadi had renamed Victoria Terminus as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to score a point over the Shiv Sena. In 1996, the BMC approved a proposal to rename Kurla outstation to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.