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The Mughalsarai railway station that was renamed on Monday Image Credit: Twitter

Dubai: It’s official, India’s historic Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh, has been renamed Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction and Indian tweeps can’t stop talking about it.

After Monday’s announcement, many Indians took to Twitter to say that the renaming was quite unnecessary and that the Indian government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should focus on the development of the country instead.

Twitter user @_Sri_Guru wrote: “Remember Gurgaon , Allahabad and Mughal Sarai station? This is how they look after being renamed to Gururam, Prayagraj and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction. Congress didn’t realise that all they had to do was change some names and development would come running.”

Another user @SandhuKanwar posted: “Renaming the 150-year-old Mughalsarai Train Junction to Deendayal Junction is unwarranted. There are better ways to make history. Instead of rewriting names in this manner, governments should set up new cities and railways stations with names of their icons. #MughalSarai”

Some tweeps like @Drlegally mocked the move by renaming famous Indian recipes that have the word “Mughal” in their name: “Now that Mughal Sarai station has been renamed, time for the restaurants to update their menu as well! ‘Government renames chicken Mughlai to chicken Deen Dayal Upadhyay’!”

Indian journalist Barkha Dutt also tweeted: Indian Journalist Barkha Dutt also tweeted: "Will Mughal Gardens be renamed too?"

To many, the renaming is no ordinary move, it has political significance. @Mughal__Empire posted: “The #Mughalsarai railway station is now officially Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay station after Governor Ram Naik approved the proposal. The move to rename the station was an attempt by the Adityanath government to revive the legacy of Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhyay.”

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay was the co-founder of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of BJP.

While many questioned Upadhyay’s contributions in India, others took to defending BJP’s move.

@mathuraki: “Looks like us Indians have gotten so used to places being named after the Gandhis that we can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that there are other political leaders.”

The proposal to rename the junction was submitted by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, in a bid to revive the legacy of Upadhyay, who was found dead in 1968 at this junction. The move led to a major upheaval in the Parliament after several MPs (member of parliament), including Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Agarwal, protested against the Centre’s decision to approve the proposal.

The Mughal Sarai Junction is of historic importance in India. It was set up by the British in the 1800s as a key station linking New Delhi to Kolkata. The junction, the fourth busiest railway station in the country, is located on the main Howrah-Delhi Grand Chord line. Twitter user @nkdammy posted: “Welcome to Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction. Bye, Bye Mughal Sarai Junction.”

 

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Tweeps shared the official document renaming the station Image Credit: Twitter
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